Susan Low-Beer is a Canadian ceramic artist whose figurative work explores psychology,

domesticity The Culture of Domesticity (often shortened to Cult of Domesticity) or Cult of True Womanhood is a term used by historians to describe what they consider to have been a prevailing value system among the upper and middle classes during the 19th cen ...

and women's experience.

Early life and education

Low-Beer's early career was as a painter. She studied painting under

Alex Colville David Alexander Colville, LL. D. (24 August 1920 – 16 July 2013) was a painter and printmaker who continues to achieve both popular and critical success. Early life and war artist Born in 1920 in Toronto, Ontario, Colville moved with his ...

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...

, completing her BFA in 1965. This was followed by an MFA at Cranbrook, which she completed in 1967. While living in California from 1968-1971, she began to experiment with clay sculpture. In 1980, Low-Beer moved to Toronto and began to focus on large figurative works in clay.

Career

Low-Beer has created several notable bodies of work. ''Still Dances'', created in 1991, combines several historical references to female forms, including Greek Cycladic sculpture and Romanesque figures, in a series of nine clay sculptures. ''Mutable Selves'', is a series of eight clay and steel sculptures created from 1994-1995. In 2001, Low-Beer exhibited ''Rocksbreath'', a series of 30 press-moulded figures installed in the

Burlington Art Centre The Art Gallery of Burlington, founded in 1978, is the seventh largest public art gallery in Ontario. The Gallery collects and maintains Canada's largest collection of contemporary Canadian ceramics. It is located on the City of Burlington water ...

courtyard, in a show curated by Jonathan Smith. Two of the figures were subsequently shown in a 2013 retrospective at the Gardiner Museum. This was followed by ''Tools for Daily Living'' (2003), a series of paper hangings incorporating clay figures reflecting her ''Rocksbreath'' work. In 2012 she facilitated psychotheraputic workshops for women survivours of violence in partnership between the Schilfer Clinic and the

Gardiner Museum The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art (commonly shortened to the Gardiner Museum) is a ceramics museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is situated within University of Toronto's St. George campus, in downtown Toronto. The museum b ...

. Her subsequent work, ''About Face'', consisted of 24 ceramic heads mounted on pedestals. It was displayed along with the work of the participants in ''Transformation by Fire'', a 2013 exhibition at the Gardiner. Critical reviews of Low-Beer's work have been positive throughout her career, but biases against ceramic-based work, often considered a craft material, have affected her inclusion in discussions of fine art practices. Low-Beer has taught privately from her studio, and at institutions including the Art Gallery of Ontario and Sheridan College.

Awards

In 1999, Low-Beer was awarded the Saidye Bronfman Award, a craft-specific award given as part of the Governor General's Awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Low-Beer, Susan Artists from Montreal Canadian contemporary artists 20th-century Canadian women artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)