Artist Statement

My work evokes the past, both in technique and in subject. I do highly detailed studies of landscape, florals and everyday objects, capturing the subtleties of the light, colour and textures that are so fascinating but so often overlooked. When I’m painting I love getting lost in the details and the challenge of creating an illusion that explains how I feel about what I see. I’m fascinated by light and how it describes form, changes colours, is reflected back and disappears into the dark depths of a background. I work in subdued colours, preferring the subtleties of the subject to stand out. I get great pleasure from slowing down, spending hours intently observing and trying to capture the incredible beauty that surrounds us.

About the Artist

Susan Paterson was born in 1958 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  She attended Mount Allison University receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1980.  She has also attended Byam Shaw School of Art in London, England; NSCAD, Halifax; Academy of Realist Art, Toronto; School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Grand Central Atelier, New Hampshire.  Her studies have been supported by an Elizabeth Greenshield’s grant, a Nova Scotia Arts Council grant and an Academy of Realist Art scholarship.

Susan has exhibited extensively across Canada since the early eighties, presenting more than thirty solo shows and many more group shows including ‘Capture 2014, Nova Scotia Realism’ juried by Tom Smart and Peter Dykuis which travelled throughout Nova Scotia and ‘Terrior, a Nova Scotia Survey’ at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.  In 2019, she was awarded 2nd place, Still Life, in the International Art Renewal Center Salon competition and the winning painting was exhibited at the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona, Spain. In 2021, she received a Purchase Award at the ARC Salon and the piece will again be shown at the MEAM in Barcelona and also at Sotheby's in New York city.

Her work is in collections all over the world including City of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Art Bank, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Bell Canada, Husky Oil, Magna International, Oshawa Foods, Citibank, Olympia and York Developments and K.K. Sakai, Tokyo, Japan as well as the International Art Renewal Center.