About Susan G Abbott

Discovery

I was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and moved a few times before settling down permanently in Toronto in the mid 90's. My formal art education has been spread over many years of studio courses. I am a learning junkie and I will probably never stop taking courses; being around other artists creating is always inspiring and invigorating.

Most of my career was spent in business, as a general manager in the financial services industry, then later as a consultant conducting qualitative research and supporting innovation and creative thinking for my clients. Art has pulled an ever increasing amount of my attention with each passing year, and is my full time passion now.

I have been showing my work since the early 2000's, and continue to love having shows in person. There are few substitutes for seeing artwork in person, and I love meeting art lovers and seeing them react to my work. But there's a lot to be said for the ability to share art through websites and social media -- imagine what Da Vinci or Van Gogh would have thought of the ability to instantly share work around the world?

The outdoors calls me to its beauty when hiking in city ravines, kayaking and paddleboarding, or on a bicycle. For many years I rode a Vespa, but the sad reality is that it is no longer safe to do that in Toronto, so I had to give up the coolest thing I ever did.

I spend time every summer in the Canadian Shield, a landscape that appears often in my work. These are some of the oldest rocks on the planet, and I want to tell their stories.

I am currently represented by ArtMatch.ca.

"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way, the savoring must come first." E. B White, author

This quote from writer E.B. White, (Pulitzer winning author of children's books, and contributor to The New Yorker magazine,) has always felt like the heart of the problem to me. Must one try to save the world, or is it enough to enjoy all that life has to offer? Should my art have an important message, or just attempt to capture the incredible beauty I see?

I do feel that I should be trying to save the world, which desperately needs us, if not to save it, at least stop crapping all over it.

But I know that we only save the things we love, and I want my art to remind you how much you also love this one amazing world, so that we all save it. I do think this tension between saving and savouring comes through in my work, because it is always present for me in the process of creation. And, as other artists have shown us, there is still beauty in a decayed and damaged landscape.

There's something about being in nature that makes everything make sense for me. The detritus of day to day life falls away, leaving only the essentials. The problems, the uncertainties, the doubts, all the baggage of the soul can be set aside when we can just pick up a paddle or put a foot on a path in the forest. This is the constant pull of the landscape in my work, a subject I return to again and again. Some of my work has both the problems and the solution all in one painting.

Curriculum Vitae

Susan G Abbott

Toronto, ON

The outdoors calls me to its beauty when hiking in city ravines, kayaking and paddleboarding, or on a bicycle. For many years I rode a Vespa, but the sad reality is that it is no longer safe to do that in Toronto, so I had to give up the coolest thing I ever did.

I spend time every summer in the Canadian Shield, a landscape that appears often in my work. These are some of the oldest rocks on the planet, and I want to tell their stories.

I am currently represented by ArtMatch.ca.

Statement

I do feel that I should be trying to save the world, which desperately needs us, if not to save it, at least stop crapping all over it.