Suzanne Bethell English

Suzanne Bethell | Painter/Printmaker

Biography:

Suzanne Bethell is a member of Hotbed Press, Salford and an associate member of Castlefield Gallery, Manchester. Her studio which overlooks a country park is where she spends a great deal of her time, developing her thought processes and ideas. Having painted and created since early childhood, she has sought to develop her work through diverse means, including attending courses with practicing artists, many of which are based at the St Ives School of Painting here in St Ives and also in Newlyn Art School just across the coast.

Suzanne took a sabbatical from her lecturing role to undertake a Foundation degree in Art, from which she graduated with a distinction in 2000. Recently, she has completed two years of degree level course in Printmaking at Hot Bed Press in Saltford.

Artist Statement:

“Colour, its potential to excite the eye, engage the heart and awaken the soul lies central to my art. As a painter and printmaker who enjoys combining these processes, I work intuitively. Painting and mono printmaking may be integrated so a piece which begins as a painterly screen-print is worked into using a range of mixed media and collage.

"My work is abstract and experimental, often inspired by a sense of time, place or emotion. I am interested in the power of colour to alter mood and mind-state and believe in the existence of an emotional language of mark which we grasp unconsciously."

Recent paintings and prints celebrate joy, vitality and energy through vibrant colours, rising forms and lively marks. There is a playfulness to this work. The Jazz and Fizz pieces make reference to neon city energy and rich, mixed cultural influences with their fluorescent colour, dynamic marks and filigree overlays.

An ongoing Prussian Blue series created as Autumn faded into Winter reflects a pared back time of stillness before regrowth. Predominantly employing blues, the work maximises upon their capacity to be calming, mesmerising and meditative, a capacity reinforced by the use of a fluid horizontal, a mark or line which can be read as tranquil.

Suzanne has exhibited widely in galleries throughout the UK since her first solo exhibition at the Pankhurst Centre, Manchester in 1994. Recent exhibitions include the RSA open, Edinburgh (2018)  the Hepworth print fair (2019), Waterside Arts, Sale 2019, Surface Contemporary Gallery, Nottingham (2019), Derbyshire Open Arts, 2019, Manchester Art Fair (2019, 2018 & 2017). Her work is in private collections nationally and internationally.

Exhibitions:

2019                           Manchester Art Fair

2019                           Surface Contemporary Gallery Nottingham

2019                           Springbank Arts, High peak

2019                          Waterside Arts, Sale

2019                          PJ Livesey Development, Didsbury

2019                          Hepworth Print Fair

2019                          Space at the Mill, Castlefield, Manchester

2018                          Manchester Art Fair

2018                           Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

2018                          King Street Studios, Lancaster

2018                           Waterside Arts, Sale

2018                          Macc Art Lounge, Macclesfield

2018                           Manchester Buy Art Fair with Hotbed Press

2017                          Castle Park Arts, Frodsham

2017                          Stockport Contemporary Open

2017                          New Perspectives, Tatton Park

2017                          Bollington Arts Centre, Cheshire Artists Network

2016                          The Studios Gallery, High Peak

2016                          Macc Art Lounge

2016                          Stockport Contemporary Open

2016                          Waterside Open, Trafford

2013                          Lymm Artists exhibition

2013                          Stockport Art Gallery—open exhibition

2003                           Pyramid Arts, warrington

2003                           Birchwood Park, Warrington

2001                          Warrington Art Gallery

1998                           Callooh, Callay, Altrincham

1998                           Warrington Art Gallery

1994                           Pankhurst Centre, Manchester

1992                          Stockport Art Gallery: Open exhibition