Sue Dion was born and raised just outside of Boston, MA, where she remained until her early twenties working alongside her siblings, parents and grandparents operating a wholesale florist business. While the demands of planting, nurturing and bringing flowers to market left little time or inclination for artistic pursuits, it is these very activities which instilled in Dion two traits essential to the life of a successful artist; a strong work ethic and a keen eye for beauty.
Dion’s paintings draw from two great American traditions, abstract expressionism and cubism. Her singular approach to the “lost edges” in abstraction communicates her intense focus on the marginalized and awakens our awareness of what is on the edges and not apparent at first glance. The color scheme in her paintings is equally sophisticated: any immediate sense of sweetness in her pastels or more saturated colors gives way, on a second viewing, to unexpected depths and darkness.
Sue shares her passion for painting through teaching and mentoring in her Uxbridge, MA studio and as a member of the teaching faculty at the renowned Worcester Art Museum.
Statement
Sue Dion is a painter, a devoted pickle enthusiast, and, above all, a "planter." For years, she considered herself a gardener, but ultimately recognized her true attraction lay not in cultivation, but in the raw potential of germination, imagination, and celebrating whatever form her efforts produced. The meticulous demands of traditional gardening simply required more time than she was willing to take from her studio practice.
She loves the act of setting things to root and observing the organic unfolding of potential—whether the subject is flowers, nascent ideas, or a bold new color on the canvas. This philosophy of planting and growth directly influences and mirrors her artistic process and style, embracing spontaneity and natural development over rigid control.
When not in the studio, Sue is most likely found walking with her partner in the woods, in her kitchen making her famous dill hummus, or gathering inspiration from the tenacious perennials in her wonderfully wild and unabashedly tangled gardens.