Susan Thomas

Susan Thomas
Aug 2024

This wonderful collection has been developed by revisiting your archives and integrating your current presence with older works.  Can you share the journey and the insights gained from this process?

I really loved the idea of using older works as a base for these new pieces. It embodies the ideas perfectly. I take pleasure in amending and adding to the layers of earlier works like a physical embodiment of memories overlapping and fading, being created and lost.
It gave me some freedom and bravery because I had this thought that nothing is static and neither do the paintings need to be. They can grow like everything else. And once I realised that I really embraced it.

This series draws significantly from your family's outlook, particularly your mother. What aspects of these relationships and perspectives do you reflect on when creating your works?

What I try and do is think about my mother and her journey with her memory loss and how it has affected us as a family.  I find her positive attitude astounding and she has used it as a tool to get through some difficult times. So I think about frailty of memory but also strength and, from my perspective, my increased ability to be patient. The other themes in my works, DNA and ageing are intertwined and I let my subconscious do its thing while I’m painting.

Your paintings reveal hidden textures and intricate layers. How does this approach connect to your exploration of memory?

I spend a lot of time painting over areas and also adding back in - adding and removing, over and over. And a lot of time looking. Staring. To me that kind of mirrors memory.  There are bits that I obscure and bits I bring more into focus. A friend once said I seem to keep the bits I like and remove the bits I don’t. And it’s true. It takes ages because sometimes you have to sacrifice a bit that you like to make the painting work as a whole and often that brings surprises. It’s fluid. Like memory.

I noticed the perfect white line throughout the series. What is the significance and origin of this element in your work?

Those lines evolved from works based around the theme of Shelter, including my exhibition of the same name in 2017. I was using geometric shapes at that point which started to morph into more linear marks and have now been distilled into thin perfect lines which speak to me of having control. They also carry the idea of shelter still for me - a safe space. I find the lines calming. And there are usually a couple of lines which speak to each other in the work. Like walls holding up the roof.

Are there other creative practices that intertwine with and inform your painting?

I work as a magazine designer so my entire working day is spent looking at beautiful homes and  beautiful things and making those images work together.  Visual balance is important in my work and my art practice. But my art is my very personal and precious creative outlet that only I am in charge of.

What influenced you to become a painter?

My father was an artist and a commercial artist, my mother taught embroidery and had a fashion business making clothes for children, my brother works in graphic design and my sister was a fashion designer and fabric artist. Our house was full of visual arts when I was growing up. Some families have a musical connection. Ours was all about drawing and painting and fabric art and going to see exhibitions. I didn’t set out to be a painter as such. I just did it from childhood and never stopped.

Tell me about your collective workspace. How does having this creative environment impact your art?

I’ve been with Dornwell Studios since its inception 15 years ago. It’s an artist-run space and we’ve had up to 9 artists working there the whole time. It’s a gift to be near artists and be able to discuss ideas, problems and get a different perspective. It doesn’t impact my art as such because I paint what I paint, but it is a warm and supportive environment and everyone there wants the best for everyone else.

What does ‘Craft’ mean to you?

Craft to me means becoming a master of whatever it is you are working with. You hone your craft. You become the best at it that you can. It’s an ongoing process.