Getting to Know Susan

In her June Newsletter, our B.C. Co-Rep, Jennie, introduced a new Co-Rep for our SAQA WC Region -- Susan Selby (MB/CA).  At last!  😊  Jennie's been working hard, flying solo for several years now, so it's great news for the Region that for at least the next ten or eleven months, she'll have a "partner in crime", so to speak.

You can see Susan's smiling face in the left-hand side-bar of the blog (scroll down).  To go along with her photo, I asked her to share a bit about herself for blog readers.

She reports that "[she's] lived most of her life on the Canadian Prairies and draws inspiration from the prairie landscape – the local skies, fields, valleys and forests provide the scenes she photographs and interprets in fabric."  She grew up in Thunder Bay, ON, where she still has family, but she's currently residing in Springfield, MB -- just east of Winnipeg.  Susan says she believes this makes her the Eastern-most member of SAQA WC.

Like many of us, Susan began working with fabric by sewing garments and home decor items, moving first into traditional quilting and then into art quilting.

Inspired by the landscape around her home, much of her work features the trees and forested areas of the prairies.  She uses a wide range of fibre materials and techniques to achieve the effects of her work -- preferring to create her own fabric surfaces and colours with dye, paint, stamps and stencils, and incorporating cottons, silk, cheesecloth and assorted found textiles.  Her current favourite?  "...well-used damask tablecloths and used napkins"!

Susan reports that she makes work almost every day -- though it's harder to manage in the summer, when, as for so many of us, the outdoors beckons.  Still, she says she "...feels a little lost" if there's nothing on her design wall or under her needle.  Ah...Susan!  We hear you on that score!  

Her goals include learning techniques that will "...give [her] work more depth", and, although she has work in private collections in Canada, the U.S. and overseas, she'd like to  "...[have] more of [her] work out in the world so more people can see it."  

To that end, she's thrilled to share that she's just had one of her pieces accepted into SAQA's Global Exhibit, Upcycle!, which premieres at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX this fall.  She is one of just three Canadians whose work was selected for this exhibit, and joins SAQA WC member, Paula Jolly, as part of that trio.  Congratulations, Susan!

Here are two pieces Susan has shared to show examples of her work:

Drifted Snow

Springtime in a Prairie Forest

You can see more of Susan's work in the photo gallery on her Facebook page.  And you can contact her via Facebook or by e-mail.

AND if you're able to attend, you'll be able to 'meet' Susan through the wonders of technology at our online SAQA Western Canada first-ever Zoom meeting on Sunday, August 18th!  Remember, the meeting starts at 1 p.m. in B.C., which is 2 p.m. in Alberta and Saskatchewan and 3 p.m. in Susan's home province, Manitoba.  And again, details of how to set up Zoom on your computer can be found here. You can also call in by phone if you’d prefer not to use the computer. Jennie will send out a reminder closer to the date and please email her if you need help with the technical details of how this works.