Transformation: New paintings by Susan Tooke

             Please join me Friday, August 5th between 6-8 p.m.  


Gallery Page and Strange
1869 Granville St.
Halifax, NS
B3J 1Y1
902-422-8995

Susan Tooke
Transformation
August 5 - 26, 2011
Opening August 5th from 6PM to 8PM - Artist in Attendance

Susan Tooke is a Halifax artist with a rich background in art making.  The first twenty years of her practice focused on social realism, with photographic reference and precise representation.  This led to ten years of  book illustration during which time she created a number of award winning picture books for various national publishers.

In 2009 Susan traveled to Sable Island.  "Frustrated with the limits of my style, I began to work toward a more expressive abstraction of the landscape, using it as a point of departure for work based on my emotional response to the energy of the environment around me."

The result is very powerful and emotional works representing our familiar landscapes.  Evocative of Anne Meredith Barry, the skies are electrified and the colours jarring.  At first glance the paintings make you think of the emotion in the work of Emily Carr, or early panel paintings by the Group of Seven.  This work is really embracing, full  of energy and love for our beautiful province.  


Susan Tooke has been a practicing artist for over thirty years.  Susan holds a BFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia and attended NSCAD University in 1996.  McLean's Magazine named her book Full Moon Rising one of the top 12 Canadian Picture books for 2002.  Susan has a staggering number of awards including Best Children's Book of the Year, Atlantic Bookseller's Choice Award, the Lillian Sheppard Memorial Award for excellence in illustration and the Mayor's Award for Excellence in Book Illustration.  Selected artist by the TD Canadian Children's Book Week National Tour (2005), Susan's work is held in the collection of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Parks Canada, The National Library of Canada and St. Francis Xavier University Art Gallery.

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