Susan’s practice includes painting, illustration, animation and media arts. She received her BFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, with post-graduate studies in Media from the New School for Social Research in New York. Selected by the Centre for Art Tapes (Halifax) for a Media Arts Scholarship, Susan is currently working with sound, video and sensors to create a virtual environments based on endangered spaces. Focusing on environmental issues around the preservation of wilderness, Susan received the prestigious Established Artist Recognition Award in 2015 in acknowledgement of the artistic contribution she has made to the province of Nova Scotia. Susan is a four-time winner of the Lillian Shepherd Award for Excellence in Illustration for her contributions to children’s literature.
Her volunteer work includes Past President of CARFAC National (Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens), board member of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and member of the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council, an advisory board on arts policy to the Nova Scotia government. As a founding member of the Sable Island Institute, Susan served as Vice President until October 2018.
Susan visited Sable Island in August 2009 when she and fellow artist the late Richard Rudnicki organized a 10-day field trip for a group of visual artists and writers.