Biography
Suzy Birstein is a figurative ceramic sculptor and painter living in Vancouver, Canada. Drawing inspiration from music, dance, costume, art history and travel, Suzy creates archetypal icons that bridge cultural and temporal divides: imagine Queen Nefertiti meeting Carmen Miranda.
Suzy's ceramic sculptures and paintings are self portraits that evoke lineages amongst past women and goddesses, fused within a present self. They compound excess as she channels an eclectic mix of female powerhouses including Frida Kahlo, Athena, Queen Nefertiti, Carmen Miranda and Alice in Wonderland.
Her fascination lies in the consistent power of the creative spirit to heal adversity across time and place: this she shares through her art, teachings and all she encounters.
Suzy is an honours graduate in ceramic sculpture from Emily Carr University. She works with clay from her Kitsilano Garden Studio. She paints and showcases her art from her studio at 1000 Parker Street.
In her pursuit of knowledge and creating an authentic voice, Suzy has travelled extensively throughout North America, Europe and Cambodia, attending and leading master workshops, visiting ancient sites, museums and all that is enchanting. This enchantment she has shared for over thirty years with her students at Arts Umbrella , from her Vancouver studios and as a visiting artist. Her “Mia Muse” art/travel workshops to Greece and Skopelos, the “Mama Mia” island, was an exciting biannual event from 2009-2017.
Suzy has participated in well over 75 group and solo exhibits across Canada, United States, Mexico, Europe and Japan. Some highlights are the Gardiner Museum, The Clay Studio in Montana, Art Brut "Diva" exhibit in France, and her upcoming solo retrospective at Il Museo, curated by Dr. Angela Clarke. Suzy participates annually in Vancouver's Eastside Culture Crawl and is honoured to be a SPLASH! AUCTION artist for Arts Umbrella.
Her commission to create “Motion Pitchers” gifted to Academy Award nominees, including George Clooney, Kate Blanchette and Julian Schnabel garnered international media attention: her commission to create Ceramic Slippers for the “Tap Grace Awards” celebrating excellence in dance merged Suzy’s passion for creating art with her love to tap dance..
Suzy has been interviewed on TV, radio and the press, including Global TV News, CBC Radio, Ceramic Art and Perception, the 500 Ceramics Series, Venice International Art Fair, The Scribe Journal….
Suzy creates from a place of wonder, compassion and love with the desire to bring more of this to more of us, now and into the future.
Statement
My sculptures and paintings compound excess. I reference historical women and popular culture in order to build composites of a current “Self". I channel an eclectic mix of past and contemporary female powerhouses including Frida Kahlo, Queen Nefertiti, Carmen Miranda, Athena, Alice in Wonderland and Leonora Carrington.
The figures are surrounded by birds, flowers and fantastical creatures who add to the eloquence of the stories they tell. Although they seem to speak and sing, they also resonate a profound silence gazing at the viewer through layers of past knowledge.
The ceramic sculptures are fired multiple times to create a surface which references ancient sites and cities. These surfaces are layered with glazes, lusters, oils, and cold wax. To this I add repurposed symbolic elements such as bindis, tutus, and mirror, all of which glow with the wonder of anthropological artefacts.The oil paintings and collages both reference and inspire the sculptures. They are in constant dialogue.
Both bodies of work address the gaze, looking inward, facing outward. The figures are simultaneously ancient, recent and new, beckoning us to remember the past at the same time as having a heightened awareness of now and looking towards the future.