Susan Elizabeth Wilson
I graduated from art school in 1978 with a BA (Hons) Fine Art. I had a wonderful time at college in Blackpool, Manchester and Bristol, all very different but interesting and culturally vibrant cities that opened up new possibilities for me.
After art school I worked, with a passion, in art education, participatory/community/collaborative arts practice and arts development, for over 40 years, in Lancashire, Aberdeenshire and Edinburgh whilst bringing up a family, renovating houses, post grad study and keeping my own visual art practice active. I have two children, one step child and four grandchildren who I love and enjoy spending time with. My caring duties and financial responsibilities are less pressing than they once were, now my grandchildren are at nursery or primary school and I am only needed for emergency and holiday duty. This has made a difference to the quality of time I can devote to my practice. I still work in series, a practice that I developed to bring consistency to a fragmented work pattern. I find it easier to slip back into work after a break, if there’s a project thought out already. A feminist from my early teens, my degree dissertation explored how women represented in ancient myths, illuminates contemporary life and this theme still runs throughout my work. I’m currently using the story of Penelope in Homer’s Odyssey as subject matter to look at how people, particularly women, wait and their activities during periods of waiting. I link this to my own environment at home or when travelling and it provides a framework for thinking about the changes human or other natural forces have made, on how we live our lives on earth, over human life times or longer deep time scales.
