Making art in rural NSW
About Sue
I’ve been a maker for as long as I can remember but it wasn’t until I was in my thirties, after a career as a high school teacher, that I went to back to university to study art. I majored in textiles and my attachment to fabric and thread continues, but I’ve also grown to love working with paint and paper. I’ve taught about the relationship between art and books for two decades and am proud that many of my students have gone on to become successful book artists. After a long career as an academic I’m now a free-range artist spending most of my days in the studio.
I love the rolling plains of the Riverina, where I live, and the rugged cliffs and red sands of Central Australia, which I have visited many times. And I have an abiding interest in small town museums: in the stories they tell and the ones they don’t. Whether I am making a stitched textile, an artist book, or a series of paintings or drawings my work is about landscape and place. I’m fascinated by the ways that humans interact with the environment: looking at it, immersing ourselves in it, or trying to impose order on it. I’m interested in how making art in relation to place might help us understand one another, bringing us closer to the natural world, and encouraging us to live more sustainably.
Photograph: Beverly Moxon
Brief CV
Qualifications
Doctor of Philosophy, 2006, RMIT University
Master of Arts (Visual Art) with distinction, 1998, Charles Sturt University
Bachelor of Arts (Visual Art) with distinction, 1995, Charles Sturt University
Diploma of Teaching (Home Economics), 1977, Sydney Teachers College
Exhibitions
2021 - In Place, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery (solo exhibition)
2020 – Old/New, Museum of the Riverina
2020 - A Brush With Art, Bundawarrah Centre, Temora
2019 – A Brush With Art, Bundawarrah Centre, Temora
2017 – Have Poets Left a Patch to Sew?, HR Gallop Gallery, Wagga
2016 – The Rhythm of Our Days, Gallery 43, Wagga (solo exhibition)
2013 – The Days of their Lives, ANCA Gallery, Canberra (solo exhibition)
2012 – Secrets and Lives, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery (solo exhibition)
2010 – Through the Eye, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
2009 – A Change in the Weather, Minerva Gallery, Wellington and Cloakroom Gallery, Queenstown
2008 – 2008 Libris Awards: The Australian Artists’ Book Prize, Artspace Mackay (selected)
2008 – Stanthorpe Art Prize 08, Stanthorpe Art Gallery (selected)
2006 – Making Do 2, H.R. Gallop Gallery, Charles Sturt University and ANCA Gallery, Canberra
2006 – Gatherings, Wodonga Art Space, Wodonga
2006 – The Art of the Stitch, Bristol, Sleaford and Birkenhead, UK (selected)
2006 – The New Quilt 2006, Manly Art Gallery and Museum (invited)
2005 – Making Do, H.R. Gallop Gallery, Charles Sturt University
2005 – Work of the hand: Exploring contemporary practice of traditional hand crafts and trades, Cowra Art Gallery (curated)
2005 – Australian and New Zealand quilts, Ardingly, Exeter, Edinburgh and Chilford Hall, UK (curated)
2004 – The House of Hussy and Minx, Textiles Using Bush-dyed and Traditional Methods, H.R. Gallop Gallery, Charles Sturt University
2004 – Australian and New Zealand quilts, 2004 European Quilt Championships, Val'D'Argent, France (curated)
2002 – Surface to Surface, City Art Space, Christchurch
2001 – Australian Cotton Fibre Expo, Narrabri
2000-2001 – Australian Bounty, Chateau Chassy d’Or, France, Australian Embassy, Paris and other venues in the UK, New Zealand and Australia (curated)
2000-2001 – Horizons Antipodean Suitcase Exhibition, Biennial Quilt Festival Johannesburg and the Lakes District Museum and Gallery, Arrowtown New Zealand and other venues (curated)