Susannah Coleman-Brown

ARTIST BIO

Susannah Coleman-Brown is a recent graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Art Honours program at UTAS and a recipient of the Madeline Gordon Gallery Art Award (2023) and the Scotch Oakburn College/UTAS Graduate Art Award (2023).

She has a background in the botanical art drawing tradition and has been a finalist in the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize (2020), TIDAL 2.1 (2021), Waverley Art Prize (2020), Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize (2020) and Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize (2020).

Coleman-Brown continues to create abstract and figurative works on paper sparked by the intersection of her vocal improvisation/jazz practice and enduring fascination with the natural environment.

@scolemanbrownart

ARTIST STATEMENT

Familial Threads consists of two suites of work on paper ‘Beach Towels’’ and ‘Micro threads’. A standalone piece entitled ‘Coastal Thread’ is also included.

The ‘Beach Towels’ series presents five coloured pencil drawings offer tender, detailed portraits of beloved family ‘shack’ towels. The textured folds, patterns and fading colours of these fabric objects offer a porthole to familial memory of beach times enjoyed across the last 40 years at the artist’s family shack in Susan’s Bay, Primrose Sands, Tasmania.

The eldest of five siblings, Susannah grew up lazing in the sun on these towels, helped wash and dry her siblings and now, her own children, nieces and nephews. Each towel seeped in holiday nostalgia and still used today with great fondness.

‘Coastal Thread’ accompanies the ‘Beach Towels’ as a nod to the artist’s ancestral connection to fishing in Tasmania and a special, enduring connection to the water held by herself and her children.

‘Micro threads’ are an extension of the ‘Beach Towel’ series. Elements of the towels and other pieces of fabric in the artist’s home were used as prompts for these playful micro depictions. Multi coloured bobbly bath towels, a tiny section of a kitchen apron. Bundles, rolls and patches of familiar, familial threads.