Susanne Barrett

Susanne Barrett is an artist whose contemporary style covers a diverse range of subjects. Born in Sydney, Barrett moved with her family to the Sunshine Coast in 1980. Her early career as a science teacher no doubt explains her interest in the more analytical side of painting, colour and design, and her willingness to experiment with different media and methods.

With a great love of rural and outback Australia and its vastness and rich tapestry of colour, Barrett’s paintings have a brilliance of colour and spirit both of which truly capture the unique character of the Australian wilderness. Her use of colour and mark-making draw the viewer in, reminiscent of landscapes seen or felt.

Barrett achieves this effect in both her abstract and impressionist works by layering colour and texture continuously throughout the painting process. Eventually, after layers of rich glazes, bold strokes symbols, and marks some semblance of a landscape once visited may appear and she follows that path in bringing the painting to a conclusion, producing evocative fluid artworks.

Barrett’s abstract paintings explore the emotional consequences of everyday life, evolving intuitively as a result of day-to-day occurrences. Line-work, collage, texture and colour are essential elements.

Working predominately with acrylic paint she often combines this with other media such as oil, watercolour, charcoal and pastel. Many of the artist’s artworks also feature paper collage used either as a way to create texture or as accents in the finished piece.

Among her achievements, Barrett was commissioned by the Australian Red Cross to design and paint a series of Australian wildflowers used to decorate tiles for the tourist market. Her book on colour and design, “Botanica”, was published in 1998 and she has taught at numerous workshops throughout Australia and overseas. Barrett’s work is held in many private collections throughout Australia and overseas