Susie Hall – artist’s biography
I was born in Bedfordshire, England, and even when I was a very small child, I would sit for hours with my wax crayons and paper, making marks, making shapes, making patterns. I grew up in a creative family (my father was a sculptor and my mother painted) and was always encouraged in my pursuits; I never felt restricted in what I was doing. Mainly I was having fun.
Eventually I discovered poster paints and started producing large, colourful works. All of that was a long time ago and in between then and now I have experimented with many different mediums. I went through a textile painting phase, a silk painting period and worked in pastels for a while.
There were long periods of time when I was busy with family and ‘proper’ work and rarely painted anything with intent or even for fun. In those days I wrote poetry and short stories instead; creating different worlds with words instead of colour.
A few years later, I taught art at a local school and had a great time finding myself to be a natural teacher. However, I then went off at a tangent and founded a paint your own pottery studio in Bedford which very quickly became successful and a talking point in the town. Sadly, due to personal circumstances, I reluctantly sold the business some nine years ago, though it still exists.
The world works in mysterious ways. After another change in personal circumstances, about seven years or so ago I was commissioned to paint a few canvases and I was reminded how important painting is to me. I still love colour and get excited at the prospect of a new, blank canvas just waiting to be brought to life. My work reflects me in many ways – I paint intuitively and from the heart, nearly always choosing the colours first. Inspiration can come from anywhere, at any time; from something I see or something I think of or even from the lighting of stage or television sets. I often get ideas for paintings or colour combinations and shapes just as I’m drifting off to sleep.
I do not attempt or want to simply reproduce what exists already, but prefer to interpret what I see or feel and let my imagination lead the way to create something new. I resist being pigeonholed by what I do in life, or in what I paint. My abstract paintings are borne of my imagination, love of colour and passion to create. I now work mainly in acrylics, sometimes oils, occasionally both. My aim is to evoke a mood or perhaps prompt a thought that words alone cannot convey.
I am constantly experimenting and developing my practice.
Exhibitions
September 2013 – Artist of the Month, Cheese Kitchen, Bedford, England
December 2013 - February 2016 – Riobello Italian Restaurant, Bedford, England
December 2013 – Lights In The Winter, International exhibition of contemporary art, La Galleria Pall Mall, Pall Mall, London, England
April 2014 – CO3 Gallery, Colchester, Essex, England
May 2014 – Breathe (by Whitepeaks Fine Art), Trinity Buoy Wharf, London
June 2014 – Picture Corner Gallery, Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England
November 2014 – Colorida Gallery, Costa do Castelo, Lisbon, Portugal
November 2014 – Beyond White Walls (Gallery Argentum), KI Europe, London, England
January 2015 – Towards Abstraction (Gallery Argentum), KI Europe, London, England
February 2015 – Auction, Center for Accessible Art, Ohio, United States
March 2015 – Atkinson O’Rourke Gallery (now The Atkinson Collection), Chicago, USA
April 2015 – Fusion, The Cult House, Hoxton Arches, London, England
December 2015 - February 2016, Frescoes Art Gallery, Bedford, England
April 2016 - August 2016 - Art At Work-Biophilia, Argentum in partnership with KI, New Fetter Place, Lego Building, London
April 2016 - Fusion II, The Cult House at The Underdog Gallery, London
July-August 2016 - Mardleybury Gallery, Datchworth, Hertfordshire
May 2017 - Abstractive Exhibition, The Cult House in collaboration with Creative Debuts, London
October 2017 - January 2018, Frescoes Art Gallery, Bedford, England
Invitations to exhibit
July 2013 – Marzia Frozen Gallery, Berlin
April 2014 – Fifth Floor Restaurant, Harvey Nichols, Knightsbridge, London
April 2014 – ArtMonaco, Monaco
August 2014 – Vienna Museum of Young Art (MOYA), Vienna, Austria
November 2014 – Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
June 2015 – Contemporary Art Exhibition, Ibiza, Balaeric Islands
July 2015 – Contemporary Art Exhibition, Monaco
April 2016 – GN25, Canada
Further invitations to exhibit in Vancouver, Barcelona, Naples, Miami
January 2017 – Invitation to exhibit Florence Biennale (October 2017)
April 2017 - Parallax Exhibition
May 2017 - Art Call 2017, The Cult House and D Contemporary
May 2017 - Art Rooms, London
February 2018 - Art Rooms, London
February 2018 - The Cult House Fusion IV London
March 2018 - Untitled Arts Fair, London
Competition
May 2013 – Saatchi Online Showdown, semi-finalist
Other events
June 2016 – Paintings became available as ‘wearable art’ via shopvida.com as Sue Hall Art
January 2017 – Painting sold at auction to raise funds for The British Heart Foundation
August 2017 onwards – Added to roster of artists at office art display company Little Van Gogh to show collection of City Lights paintings
