Featured - The Jealous Curator

Thank you amazing Danielle Krysa aka The Jealous Curator for featuring my work.

“I have to share a story Susannah told me about the final piece above … “The piece with the gold halo is my daughter. She was born “unresponsive”. The necklace – with the arms – is from Mexican religious iconography which symbolizes “embrace and touch”, because after 36 hours of labour, I fought to keep my twins together, close with me and out of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit by doing “Kangaroo care”. The artichoke at the core has a heart, symbolizing love – and, throughout history, artichokes have represented hope, peace and a successful future.” I’m not crying, you’re crying. A beautiful story from a beautiful person {And, I’ve met her twins. They are creative, kind and amazing … just like their mama.}
- Danielle Krysa

Top 100 Sculptors

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I’m very excited to announce Beautiful Bizarre Magazine included my work in their Top 100 Sculptors of 2018 on Instagram

“a list of artists who work in a wide variety of mediums from found object assemblage, glass, textiles, wood, marble, sculpey, metal, wax, string, bones, feathers, fibreglass, sugar, resin, metal, clay, taxidermy, paper, textiles, fine porcelain etc., and whose works range in scale from miniature to larger than life or room size! All of whom I believe are among the greatest living and working sculptors of 2018."

Co-founder + Editor-in-Chief Danijela Krha Purssey

Deck the Walls at Newzones Gallery

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Deck the Walls
November 29, 2018 to January 12, 2019
Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art
730 Eleventh Avenue Southwest, Calgary

“Ever evolving, Deck the Walls! will present itself as an entire wall of small-to-medium sized artworks, perfect for gift-giving this holiday season. This salon-inspired exhibition will aim to entice viewers to give the spectacular gift of art for the holidays."

New representation - Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art

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Announcing new representation in Calgary at Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art “…one of North America’s leading contemporary art galleries representing prominent Albertan, Canadian and international artists. The gallery’s program has an emphasis on process oriented artwork that challenges both the traditional use of materials and formal aesthetics."

Looking forward to working with co-directors Helen and Tamar Zenith, ass’t director Sabrina Sullivan and preparator Brandon Hearty.

Watch for my first exhibition at Newzones in December.

CBC ARTS DOCUMENTARY on MY NEW body of work

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Letting barnacles grow on her work is the key to this sculptor's ethereal creations

For her latest project, Susannah Montague is stepping out of her studio and collaborating with the ocean

Milena Salazar · CBC News · August 22

(CBC Arts)

When Bowen Island, B.C.-based artist Susannah Montague was growing up, her family would travel to Scotland to visit relatives who owned an antique shop. She would spend those summers studying vintage objects like Dresden dolls and blue and white porcelain in the shop — an experience that now deeply informs her intricate ceramic work.

Using these traditional methods but with a contemporary twist, her pieces combine natural and fantastical elements to conjure a whimsical world of cherubs, dolls, butterflies, skulls and animals. "I think my style is influenced by my childhood and watching my children grow up," she says. "It's full of the daydreams that we have as children, and the nightmares of a childhood, captured in the scary and the beauty of these pieces."

Watch The Video:

On Bowen Island, artist Susannah Montague explains why she's been giving her sculptures to the ocean.

For her latest project, Montague is stepping out of her studio and collaborating with the ocean. She's submerging new ceramic pieces in crab traps in the intertidal zone, allowing barnacles to grow on them. Barnacles are small crustaceans that build a "house" around them made of calcium carbonate — which happens to be the most common source of calcium in ceramic glazes. "I was sculpting barnacles in porcelain and I thought, 'Why not let nature do its thing?' I love the thrill of working so hard of making a piece and just surrendering it and leaving it in the ocean for months. It's sort of like opening the kiln. You hold your breath and open it up."

(CBC Arts)

In this video, Susannah Montague talks about the process of letting outside forces step in to her work, and how it's allowed her to let go of her perfectionism and let nature use its own creative power.

You can follow Susannah Montague and her adventures with the ocean here.

(CBC Arts)

(CBC Arts)

Seattle Art Fair

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See you at the 2018 Seattle Art Fair!

Booth E29
Elissa Cristall Gallery
August 2-5, 2018

SOLO EXHIBITION "Of Things I Can't Unthink" will be at The Elissa Cristall Gallery

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My Of Things I Can't Unthink show will be at one of my favourite galleries, The Elissa Cristall Gallery  from June 7 – June 30, 2018. I will be giving an Artist Talk at the gallery on June 16th at 1:00 pm to coincide with the South Granville Art Walk. I'd love to see you there if you can make it!

"Susannah Montague’s art is as humorous as it is subversive. Her pieces are a daydream in clay, wryly communicating the intransience of the human condition. Stepping into her studio is like discovering an Eighteenth-Century Cabinet of Curiosity.  Her art is a collection of shamanistic characters which imbibe the peculiar, scientific and mythical qualities involved in creation. Rollicking, cherubic figures wearing masks and antlers frolic among symbols of decay, in a world that is equal parts shadowy and lighthearted. Combined the images evoke a whimsical narrative of folk tales, childhood fantasies, dreams and nightmares."

Susannah Montague is a British born, Bowen Island-based ceramic sculptor. She earned her BFA from Emily Carr University and Ontario University of Art and Design.

June 7 – June 30, 2018 | Reception and Artist Talk: Saturday, June 16, 1 p.m. |

"Enjoy the Now" Podcast Interview Off with Danielle Krysa AKA the Jealous Curator

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Earlier this month I got to participate in an "Interview Off" with Danielle Krysa AKA The Jealous Curator. Danielle interviewed me and then I got the opportunity to interview her and learn more about her new book "A Big Important Art Book (Now With Women!)". This event was hosted at Victoria's Club Kwench  and it was a real honour to have been a part of this event. You can listen to the Danielle's Pod Cast entitled of the event entitled "Enjoy The Now" at her Art For Your Ear podcast page. I hope you enjoy it!

Featured in Create! Magazine

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I wanted to share with you the exciting news that I have been featured in the most recent issue of Create! Magazine. Create! Magazine is a wonderful publication and website that promotes fresh, unique work of creatives from around the world. Each beautiful issue is filled with vibrant contemporary art, craft, design, and stories of the makers behind it. I am truly honoured to have been included in the latest issue (issue 9). I am in the Curated Section by the amazing Danielle Krysa aka The Jealous Curator.

As always, thank you for your interest and support, I truly appreciate it!

Love, 

Susannah

Elevenses / Susannah Montague in discussion with The Jealous Curator March 25th in Victoria, BC.

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"Join us for a conversational interview with Danielle Krysa (The Jealous Curator) and artist Susannah Montague. Both of these talented and sassy women will discuss their art, the business of art, and their respective challenges and inspirations.

Coffee, tea and light snacks provided - it is elevenses after all.

Danielle Krysa has a BFA in Visual Arts, and a post-grad in graphic design. She is the writer/curator behind the contemporary art site, The Jealous Curator (est.2009). Danielle has curated shows from Washington DC to Los Angeles, San Francisco to Toronto. In 2014 she published two books, titled “Creative Block” and “Collage”. Her third book, “Your Inner Critic Is A Big Jerk” was released in October 2016, and she is currently working a new book due out Fall 2018. Danielle has also had the great pleasure of speaking at TEDx, PIXAR, Creative Mornings, CreativeLive, and was interviewed for several video segments on oprah.com.

Susannah Montague received her BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in the sculpture department. She also attended the Ontario University of Art and Design, the Vancouver Film School, and completed an Artist In Residence program with Bowen Island School. She has exhibited and sold her work in Vancouver and Los Angeles and is a long time member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.)


e·lev·ens·es
noun British informal
a short break for light refreshments, usually tea or coffee, and sometimes biscuits, taken about eleven o'clock in the morning."

- Club Kwench event

Inner Critic Talisman Project

Inner Critic Talisman Project with Susannah Montague
Sunday, March 18, 2018 | 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Seymour Art Gallery Members – $25 | Non-members – $28

Has that negative and self-doubting inner critic got you down? Join Susannah Montague for a 90-minute clay workshop and build your own ceramic, wild, and crazy version of your inner critic to hang on the wall of your studio or creative space. With this little clay talisman, you will now have a way to talk back (kindly, of course) to your inner critic and get out of that funk! Inspired by artist Tara Galuska’s ‘Inner Meanie Cat’ lecture.

Participants will build and glaze in one class, and will return to collect their fired piece.

Susannah Montague is a British born, Bowen Island based ceramic sculptor. She earned her BFA from Emily Carr University and Ontario University of Art and Design.

SOLO EXHIBITION "Of Things I Can't Unthink" / Susannah MontaguE at the Seymour Art Gallery

I'm excited to have an exhibition Of Things I Can't Unthink at the Seymour Public Art Gallery from March 3 – April 14, 2018. I will also be hosting a Hands-on Workshop on Sunday March 18. For full details and to register go here.

"Ceramic sculptor Susannah Montague’s highly symbolic and eerily beautiful sculptures at once draw you in and repel you. In each of Montague’s surreal porcelain sculptures, there is narrative to be discovered. Using a combination of hand building, press molds, and slip casting to build her sculptures, she also references traditions from ceramic fine-craft and art history. In her most recent body of work, Montague uses symbols such as fading flowers, bubbles, skulls, and insects to represent death and the transient nature of life. These symbols, interspersed with casts of toys including dolls, helicopters, and bunnies, take on a slightly sinister feeling in their modern compositions. Montague’s exhibition examines the cycles in our lives and asks us to revel in the beauty of the absurd.

Susannah Montague is a British born, Bowen Island-based ceramic sculptor. She earned her BFA from Emily Carr University and Ontario University of Art and Design.

March 3 – April 14, 2018 | Reception: Saturday, March 10, 2 – 4 p.m. | Artist Talk and Tour: Sunday, April 1, 2 p.m.

Hands-on Workshop with Susannah Montague: Sunday, March 18. Full details and to registration here."

- Seymour Public Art Gallery

Featured on THE JEALOUS CURATOR / CURATED CONTEMPORARY ART

My sculptures were featured with Danielle Krysa, AKA "The Jealous Curator", an incredible source of inspiration through her books, podcasts and blog. She has a rich and wonderful talent. 

Le Blog Du Kitsch

A wonderful blog from France! Merci Le Blog Du Kitsch!

"L’artiste Susannah Montague crée des superbes sculptures en céramique. Avec comme sujet récurrent l’enfant, sorte de poupée chérubin étrange, elle développe dans ses œuvres des histoires où viennent se mélanger des aspects mignons et horrifiques. Susannah Montague vit et travaille à Vancouver."
- Le Blog Du Kitsch

Featured on American Craft Council

The American Craft Council was founded over 75 years ago by a true visionary, Aileen Osborn Webb, and they have been championing for the arts and artists ever since. It is a true privilege to have been featured in The American Craft Council's weekly publication.

The Vanderbild / Dimitris Manolas Curator

Dimitris Manolas has created a beautifully curated collection of inspiring work on his site TheVanderbild. 

"theVanderbild.com is a manifestation of the Vanderbild himself, Athens based admirer, curator, and sometimes engineer, Dimitris Manolas.  It is a fresh collection of contemporary aesthetic directions; an ode to the lovers, makers, and shapers of art in all its forms.

Let your curiosity drift and your senses be assailed as your eyes feast upon handpicked creations found in ateliers, notebooks, museums, and galleries from around the world. It is our sincerest hope that through your perusing of theVanderbild inspiration will beget inspiration. Spread the love"

- Dimitria Manolas

Featured in Create Magazine

Create Magazine promotes fresh, unique contemporary art from around the world. I was thrilled and grateful to be in their "Studio Sundays" feature.

"Studio Sundays: Susannah Montague

On this week's Studio Sundays feature we explore the intricate ceramic work of Canadian artist Susannah Montague.

Susannah received her BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in the sculpture department. She also attended the Ontario University of Art and Design where she specialized in figurative work and anatomy and studied at the Vancouver Film School.

In 1996 the BC Ceramic Gallery recognized Susannah as the Top Emerging Ceramic Artist in British Columbia and awarded her studio space for the year.

Susannah developed her sculptural work and exhibited and sold her work in Vancouver and Los Angeles. Susannah was also involved in many Interior Design and Art Installations for major nightclubs and restaurants in Vancouver."

- Create Magazine

Graphigeek

GraphiGeek is an online hub where creative ideas are celebrated.  I was thrilled to be included in their collection. The writeup on this site was beautiful and it really touched me. I would love to find out who the author was.

SOLO EXHIBITION "Out Of My Head" - Susannah Montague - Bowen Island Art Gallery

The Gallery at Artisan Square and the Bowen Island Arts Council are presenting a solo show by local ceramic sculptor Susannah Montague from March 4th to the 26th entitled “Out of My Head”. The works in the show call on the rich Vanitas tradition. Vanitas is a tradition of highly symbolic works often associated with 16th - 17th century paintings from Flanders and the Netherlands. Though the symbolism often deals with the death and the transient nature of life Susannah sees it also as a reminder to treasure the beauty that surrounds us.

The idea for this show originally started from Susannah’s desire to explore our desire for conversation, communication and perhaps even cofession. “In building these pieces and exploring that idea I realized I had all these other topics and conversations literally coming out of my head as I made the pieces. The topics ranged from my personal challenge with balancing my life as an artist while trying to be the best parent I can to my children to topical local and international news stories. As my preparation for the show is coming to a close I see that many of the pieces come from my strong desire, especially in the wake of the US election, to see, focus and stress the beauty and positivity that does exist.”

Many of the pieces in the show use molds Susannah has made of objects found in her travels, including dolls, toys and religious artifacts. “Before I had children I was a sculptor with the movie industry and was involved in a lot of great projects that allowed me to really develop my mold making skills. Mold making truly is an art in itself but my pieces are about the idea that the objects have allowed me to explore, not the mold itself.”

Last year Susannah was involved with the Bowen Island Community School through the Art Starts program and was the artist behind the ceramic labyrinth. This project allowed every student to make an individual lantern like ceramic pieces incorporating local Bowen Island Clay that Susannah located, dug up and processed made by almost every student that incorporated some Bowen Island clay into the lantern designs. In discussing that project Susannah says “Working with the students was a real joy and I am grateful for the experience. I believe that Art is so important in early education - I would love if some of the students come to see my show”

Like the lantern pieces from the labyrinth, some of Susannah’s pieces in this show incorporate and play with light, drawing the viewer into the pieces to look closer for the small details that could be missed upon the first glance.

The show runs from the 4th to the 26th. The Gallery at Artisan Square will be open Thursday to Sunday from 12 to 4.