DRAWINGS AND PAINTINGS
11th September - 13th December 2000
Primary Catalogue
Susan Wilson was born in New Zealand. Her family lived in a rural community on the South Island. She trained to be a nurse and worked as a sister in a hospital which treated patients who had head injuries. Although she found this work rewarding she wanted to travel and discover the world for herself. In 1976 she achieved her ambition and set off from New Zealand with a one-way ticket to South America. Here she saw sights that she never dreamt that she would see. Wanting to remember everything, she began to make drawings, and continued to do this, recording places and events, as she travelled from South America through Europe.
During a stay in London she visited the National Gallery. The paintings she saw inspired her, and made her feel that perhaps she too could become an artist. She was accepted for study at Camberwell School of Art and trained there for four years. Her tutors taught her the importance of drawing. Now she draws continually as a way of learning about, and understanding the world. Her sketchbooks, which are included in the exhibition, show the way in which she makes a record of people and places. Sometimes she will use pencil or charcoal, but often prefers to use ink and brush so that she can work quickly and create flowing lines and tones. The finished works are oil paint on canvas, which is cotton or linen stretch tightly over a wooden frame. The brush strokes are visible, and often the paint is applied quite thickly, with layers of colours making a rough textured surface.
LANDSCAPE
Susan Wilson's father was a stretcher-bearer during the Second World War, risking his life to rescue wounded soldiers during the fighting. He served in Italy during the great battle of Monte Cassino where many of his comrades were killed. Susan visited this area of Italy with her father a few years before he died and made several paintings of the mountainous landscape there. Now she returns to Italy almost every year with her own family. Sometimes she paints outside straight from the landscape. At other times she will use her sketchbook to draw and make colour sketches so that she can paint on her return to England. Visits to churches, museums and galleries in Italy provide her with the opportunity to study and draw great art and architecture from the past. Her landscape pictures appear in two forms of paintings that she makes - still life and portraits. In this way there is a link between all the pictures and the stories that they tell.
STILL LIFE
Like many of her portraits the still life paintings are autobiographical. They also include objects which tell a story about Susan Wilson's life. Set up on tables in her studio they are collections of everyday things, but each one is of special importance to her. They may include drawings made by her two children, items of clothing, the paints and brushes that she uses and once again pictures and postcards about her journeys. All these paintings and drawings tell us about Susan Wilson as a person. They help us to realise and understand that our everyday lives with their memories, hopes and dreams are important events for us to record and remember.
KEY WORDS
Autobiographical, Portrait, Canvas, Possessions, Easel, Rural Landscape, Community, Layers, Still Life, Oil Paint, Texture, Tone
IMAGES
'Prelude' - Oil on Canvas. One of the illustrations for a book of short stories by Katherine Mansfield
'San Vincenzo' 36"x23" Oil on Canvas
'Still Life Signorelli '1997 36"x28" Oil on Canvas
'Celestial Light' 1998 -50"x30" Oil on Canvas
'Cosima' 1995 Indian Ink on Paper
Acknowledgements
Drumcroon would like to thank Susan Wilson fro her generous support during the organising of this exhibition.
Catalogue, Poster Sue O'Brien
Positive Print
Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Department of Education
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