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Sessions are in person or on-line, one-to-one and/or in small groups. Each session is tailor-made to your learning interests and needs. Susan offers an initial consultation to agree structure and approach for £50 which is refundable against future sessions. Rates are on a sliding scale by the hour.

 

Susan has been a practicing artist for 30+ years and has extensive experience and knowledge in studio, professional and teaching practice. She has exhibited in museums, galleries and alternative spaces throughout the world, taken part in collaborative & social practice projects, residencies and received awards, grants and commissions. She has taught in the UK and USA from graduate through to postgraduate and PhD levels at art schools in the UK and abroad. Her experience includes leading a sculpture department, running workshops, modules, seminars, delivering lectures, conference papers and tutorial’s. With specialisms in sculpture installation, drawing and collage she has also taught fine-art film making, painting, printmaking, performance and photography. She has been mentoring artists on a one-to-one basis and through studio internships since 2010.

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Susan’s professional practice experience covers many areas including; exhibiting, residencies, commissions, grant and funding applications, budgeting, obtaining sponsorship, working with industry and in non-art institutions including museums, heritage spaces and with groups of people who do not normally engage in art practice. Successful strategies she’s employed include placing work into the public domain, approaching commercial and public gallery spaces and museums to developing artist led shows, social media engagement, promoting events in the press, open studios and funded projects. Susan can also help with practical issues from sourcing the right materials to work with through to framing, making artists’ prints, documenting your work, motivation, developing support systems, networks and workshops.

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Susan enjoys sharing and passing on her knowledge and experience as well as the creative interaction and problem-solving processes involved in learning and mentoring. She can help you find ways to creatively support and develop your practice, increasing your profile and prospects. 

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Susan’s own work is currently focused upon sculptural installations, construction, fabrication, textiles, sewing, and working with recycled materials and with political content.  She’s current developing new ways of working, including the introduction of more performance and film elements in order to make her practice more resilient, transportable and adaptable to current contexts, including less availability of traditional gallery opportunities.

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Testimonials

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By Michael Crossan's testimonial from the Piece Makers Project, National Army Museum, London

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I first met Susan in 2012, when she ran an art workshop over several months at Sir Oswald Stoll Mansions, the Veterans’ Housing Association where I lived. The workshop, part of a two-year collaborative project with the National Army Museum, explored issues around memory, narrative, and rehabilitation after military service. At the time, I was taking a Fine Art course and considering further study, but I still felt a lot of self-doubt about my work, and uncertainty about which direction I should take. I felt very interested in participating in the workshop, as art had been one of few constants during my own turbulent years after I left the Army.

 

Susan’s approach was both therapeutic and inspiring; she took students’ work seriously and at the same time encouraged all involved to see creating art as a calming, enjoyable and exploratory practice.  There was a sense of inclusiveness to the sessions despite our wide range of levels and experience. When Susan later featured my original screen print in her own mixed media work PeaceMaker, which toured military museums around the UK after its initial run at NAM, this proved to be a pivotal collaboration for me, providing an opportunity to learn from an accomplished artist whose work I admired, to observe her process and use of research, to share in forming relationships with curating staff and to gain experience talking about my work in a public forum.

 

In the years that followed, Susan continued to be a mentor and an important contributor to my progression as I made my way through an MFA programme and then worked to sustain my practice upon graduation. Her willingness to share what she knows and her genuine interest in seeing people develop personally and artistically has been as evident as a peer mentor as it was during those first Veterans workshops at Stoll.  Then, as now, she has always treated me as a fellow artist and peer, despite the wide gap in our experience, and this collegial approach has increased my confidence and encouraged me to take my practice seriously. Her communication style is caring and honest, and she shares her experience with a view toward helping people find and follow their own path, not to impose any particular view or method. I feel extremely fortunate to have met Susan when I did, and I know first-hand the extent to which she can encourage personal growth, confidence, and artistic development in others.

 

Michael Crossan is a practicing artist.

He worked on the Piece Makers Project 2012-15 while living at Stoll Housing Trust in London.

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