Susanna Heller

Susanna Heller in her studio.

Susanna Heller is an American citizen who grew up in Montreal as a landed immigrant and since 1980 has lived in Brooklyn, NY, USA. Heller received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1977. The "metropolis" has been the primary source of inspiration for Susanna, often navigating her surroundings from a variety of perspectives, including bridges and skyscrapers. Heller had a studio on the 91st floor of the World Trade Center from 1998 to 1999 as part of a 15-month long artists’ residency called "World Views", organized by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Following the tragedy of 9/11, she returned to that site, which led to a new series of paintings addressing the themes of absence, fragility, and destruction. After 9/11 she also made scores of drawings on site plus two drawings that are 26 feet high and 11 feet wide. One was made on site inside the WTC, the second made after the towers fell, in her studio in Brooklyn. Both of these collage works on paper are in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Susanna has exhibited her work in many international galleries and museums. A prolific painter working in various scales, her exhibitions often include smaller works on paper that are assembled to impactful affect within the architecture of the gallery space. She is the recipient of numerous awards both in Canada and the USA, including The National Endowment for the Arts, The Canada Council for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Award. Susanna has travelled extensively and has been awarded residencies in Paris, France, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. Her work is represented in both public and private collections including, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Air Canada Corporation; the Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa; Concordia University Art Gallery, Montreal; Museum London; Oakville Galleries and The Donavan Collection, St. Michael's College, Toronto, Ontario.

Following meeting artists Ron Benner, Jamelie Hassan and her son Tariq Hassan Gordon and Wyn Geleynse and his daughter Mara in Paris in 1984, a long-standing friendship evolved among the artists of the Embassy Cultural House. Susanna was invited to present a solo exhibition Recent Works at the ECH in 1986, and is included in the ECH's inaugural virtual exhibition Hiding in Plain Sight. Susanna is represented by Olga Korpor Gallery in Toronto and her paintings will be included in Art Toronto, Canada's art fair from October 28 to November 8, 2020 through the participation of this gallery. For more information on Susanna Heller please visit her website.

Recent Work by Susanna

Eyes in a Bleak World, 2020, 28" x 22" oil paint, mixed media on canvas. Exhibited at the Embassy Cultural House virtual exhibit Hiding in Plain Sight.

The Crane is a Metal Flower 2, 2020, 36"x62" oil paint, mixed media on canvas

Gardens of Brooklyn, 2020, 24"x20" oil paint, mixed media on canvas

Aerial Angst, 2020, 60"x92" oil paint, mixed media on canvas

Susanna Heller Restless Prowling From Night to Day Break, 2015, 11'x30' Oil on canvas. Installed at the TD Centre-Mies van der Rohe building, in Toronto.

EDITORIAL TEAM

ONLINE FOUNDER
Tariq Hassan Gordon

COFOUNDERS & CURATORIAL ADVISORS
Jamelie Hassan & Ron Benner

ADVISORY CIRCLE
Samer Abdelnour, Wyn Geleynse, Fern Helfand, S F Ho, Lorraine Klaasen, Judith Rodger, Ruth Skinner, Mary Lou and Dan Smoke,  and Lucas Stenning

COORDINATING EDITORS
Tariq Hassan Gordon & Olivia Mossuto

WEB DESIGN & SOCIAL MEDIA
Tariq Hassan Gordon, Ira Kazi, Olivia Mossuto, Niloufar Salimi,   JoAnna Weil

VIRTUAL TOUR
Andreas Buchwaldt

PRINT PUBLICATIONS
Blessy Augustine, Shelley Kopp, Olivia Mossuto

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Andreas Buchwaldt, Blessy Augustine, Anahí González, Ira Kazi, Shelley Kopp, Ashar Mobeen, Niloufar Salimi,  Jenna Rose Sands, JoAnna Weil & Michelle Wilson.

OUR STORY

Artists Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner and jazz musician Eric Stach founded the Embassy Cultural House (1983-1990) located in the restaurant portion of the Embassy Hotel at 732 Dundas Street in East London. Other former members of the board were: Debrann Eastabrook, Henry Eastabrook, Sharron Forrest, Wyn Geleynse, Janice Gurney, Jean Hay (1929 - 2008), Doug Mitchell, Kim Moodie, Gerard Pas, Peter Rist, Wanda Sawicki, Jean Spence and Jennie White. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Embassy Cultural House was re-envisioned as a virtual artist-run space and website.

This project is supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the London Arts Council through the City of London's Community Arts Investment Program.

Thank you to our partners

E M B A S S Y C U L T U R A L H O U S E . C A

London, Ontario is on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Attawandaron and Huron-Wendat peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Wampum and other treaties.