Approved: 16.08.2006

Susan Laughton

Artist

Approved: 16.08.2006

Susan Laughton worked in architecture for twelve years before returning to education to study art graduating with a BA Hons in 2002. Her work is exhibited regularly in the UK and is held in private collections in the UK, Europe, the US and Australia. It has been selected for the Royal West of England Academy Drawn exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy Annual exhibition and Fully Awake 5:6 at the Freelands Foundation, London. She has been a professional artist since 2006 and currently works from Vale Artists Studios in Cheshire.

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    Artist Statement

    Susan Laughton worked in architecture for twelve years before returning to education to study art graduating with a BA Hons in 2002. Her work is exhibited regularly in the UK and is held in private collections in the UK, Europe, the US and Australia. It has been selected for the Royal West of England Academy Drawn exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy Annual exhibition and Fully Awake 5:6 at the Freelands Foundation, London. She has been a professional artist since 2006 and currently works from Vale Artists Studios in Cheshire.

    My paintings and drawings evolve from half-remembered glimpses seen from the corner of my eye, fleeting juxtapositions elusive to photography, the dislocated reverie of long car journeys, or from more studied compositions. They are created from many visual sources that are filtered through sketchbook work and altered intuitively as the painting progresses.

    The landscape is my starting point, not as a picturesque or static view, but as a space travelled through and experienced often on the edges of the urban and rural. It is a source of man made and natural structures, surfaces nd colour from which my reductive personal responses develop. I am inspired by distant horizons, the silhouettes of trees and rooftops contrasting expanses of sky interrupted by power lines, and by the architectural forms of vernacular buildings.

    My long standing interest in landscape and architecture has always inspired my drawing and painting. Vernacular buildings, both rural and urban, domestic and functional, have found a place in my paintings for some time, no doubt also informed by time as an architectural technician. I am particular drawn to the triangular form of the gable ends of buildings, whether they be simple sheds, northern terraces, suburban 1960’s bungalows, barns or industrial warehouses. The move from painting to 3D forms was aninstinctive urge, a desire for a more physical, tactile exploration.

    That exploration encompasses both the formal aspects of architectural, geometric shapes and what they mean in the sense of home, shelter, work and human endeavour and it’s impact on our external and internal landscapes. I think there is also an element of play involved in creating imaginary worlds, remembering the painted wood toy building blocks of childhood.

     

    CV & Education

    qualifications
    2002     BA (Hons) Visual Art and Design (First) Bolton Institute.
    1987    HND Building Technology, Bolton Institute.

    shortlisted
    2016     Lichfield Art Prize: Finalist    

    2012    John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Gallery, Liverpool (first round)

    galleries

    &Gallery, Edinburgh

    Gallery57, Arundel, West Sussex

    The Stratford Gallery, Broadway, Worcs.

    Highgate Contemporary Art, London (online)

    solo exhibitions

    2019    Balancing Act &Gallery, Edinburgh

    2019    Safekeeping Staithes Studios Gallery, North Yorkshire

    2018    Conscious Perception The Stratford Gallery

    2016    Cold Pess gallery, Holt, Norfolk

    2015    Travelling Light, Quercus Gallry, Bath

    2011    Still Here at greenroom, Manchester curated by Blank Media collective.

    2010    Measured Space at Duckett and Jeffreys Gallery, Malton. North Yorks. 

    2009    Sightlines at Salford Museum & Art Gallery including curation of works from Salford’s                  permanent collection 

    group exhibitions

    2020 The Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition

    2020 Wood: growth patterns Gallery 57, Arundel

    2020 Journey into Landscape Bircham Gallery, Holt, Norfolk

    2019 Fully Awake: The Freelands Foundation, London

    2019 Small Works group exhibition, The Stratford Gallery

    2019 Constructs of Colour The Old Lock Up Gallery, Derbyshire

    2019 Fresh: Contemporary Art Fair, Cheltenham Racecourse

    2018/19 Organic Form Gallery 57, Arundel

    2018/19 Winter exhibition The Stratford Gallery

    2018 Initial Sighting &Gallery, Edinburgh

    2018 A contour, a curve - the lie of the land Gallery 57, Arundel

    2018 JOURNEY The Stratford Gallery, Stratford upon Avon

    2018 Fresh: Contemporary Art Fair, Cheltenham Racecourse

    2018 The Affordable Art Fair, Battersea represented by The Art Agency

    2018 Winter The Stratford Gallery

    2017 Mixing Signals Kobi & Teal, Frome, Somerset

    2017 Gaze, Glimpse: Looking at landscape Gallery 57, Arundel

    2017 Ikigai: A reason for living The Old Lock Up Gallery, Derbyshire

    2017 A Time for Reflection The Stratford Gallery, Stratford upon Avon

    2016 

    Opening Exhibition The Stratford Gallery, Stratford-upon-Avon

    Buy Art Fair, Manchester, represented by Staithes Studios

    Open Exhibition, The Old Station Gallery, Rowsley, Derbyshire

    Responses in Colour Artwave West, Morecombelake, Dorset

    Lichfield Art Prize: Finalist, Emporium Gallery, Staffordshire

    A Certain Language Staithes Studios gallery, North Yorkshire

    2015 

    Drawn 2015 The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

    The Still Point Quercus Gallery, Bath

    2014 

    Bristol Affordable Art Fair represented by Columbia Road Gallery

    Quercus Gallery Summer Show

    Hampstead Affordable Art Fair

    2013 

    neo:artprize, neo:artists, Bolton

    Battersea Affordable Art Fair

    New York City Affordable Art Fair

    2012    

    Artlink Stockport Art Galley, Cheshire     

    2011    

    Artificial Light Cupola Gallery, Sheffield

    A Different View, The Barefoot Gallery, Boston Spa, Yorkshire

    No.1: Paint BLANKSPACE Gallery, Manchester

    Wirksworth Festival Art Trails

    Barnaby Festival, Macclesfield

    Stockport Contemporary Open, Stockport Art Gallery, Cheshire

    2010 
       
    Palace Art Fair, Fulham, London 

    2009

    Buy Art Fair, Urbis, Manchester: represented by Arts&Business

    Art of Ideas II: Arts & Business/Arts Council exhibition selected by Stephen Snoddy, Director of Walsall Gallery

    Findings: Valley Artists Towneley Museum & Gallery, Burnley

    Survey gallerytop, Rowsley, Derbyshire

    2008 
      
    Brighton Art Fair

    Haworth Museum & Gallery, Accrington (solo)

    Cupola Gallery, Sheffield.

    2007

    Figura Gallery, Windsor.

    Tony Scrivener & Susan Laughton Firbob & Peacock Contemporary Art, Knutsford,                 Cheshire.

    Brighton Art Fair

    Open Exhibition, Grosvenor Museum, Chester.

    2006

    Troubadour Gallery, Chorlton, Manchester

    Calder Gallery, Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire.

    Haworth Open, Haworth Gallery, Accrington, Lancashire.

    Prelude Art Fair, Spitalfields, London

    Landmarks III  Lowood Gallery, Armathwaite, Cumbria

    2005    Sculptural Possibilities Cupola Gallery, Sheffield. 

    awards:
    2006    Arts Council Grant.

    commissions
    2008    Valley of Stone: art commission and community workshop with five Valley Artists for Groundwork Pennine Lancashire with Heritage Lottery funding to raise awareness of the quarrying heritage of Rossendale.

    studio: 
    Electric Picture House Artists Co-operative, Congleton, Cheshire 2011 -
    www.electricpicturehouse.com
    Victoria Mill Arts Centre, Congleton, Cheshire 2010 - 2011
    Valley Artists, Rossendale, Lancashire 2004 - 2010