Susan Benson

Susan Benson was born in Kent, England. She trained as a painter in the UK before emigrating to Canada. Over the years her work as a Canadian painter has been interwoven with design for the theatre, ballet and opera. As a designer she worked with distinguished directors and companies in some of the world's great theatres. Her costume- and set-designs are instantly recognizable for authenticity, imagination, craftsmanship and an artist's attention to subtlety of line and colour. Her work has...See more

Susan Benson was born in Kent, England. She trained as a painter in the UK before emigrating to Canada. Over the years her work as a Canadian painter has been interwoven with design for the theatre, ballet and opera. As a designer she worked with distinguished directors and companies in some of the world's great theatres. Her costume- and set-designs are instantly recognizable for authenticity, imagination, craftsmanship and an artist's attention to subtlety of line and colour. Her work has been repeatedly recognized in awards and in inclusion in public collections. She is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy. Susan's time spent in the Leighton Colony at the Banff Centre has had a profound effect on her work as a painter. The original time spent in the Colony was part of a Banff Centre Award for Contributions to the Arts in Canada. Since then she has been able to spend further time in the Colony developing her painting. Portraiture has been prominent in her work, but the influence of the natural world, especially the scenery of the west coast of Canada, is revealed in the landscapes by her representation-sometimes approaching abstraction-of natural forms. She now lives on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada. See less