Susie Elliott
Born in Fiji, Susie Elliott lived and worked in New Zealand. During the 1990s, she studied Chinese brush techniques in Manila, Philippines, and upon her return to New Zealand, she continued her art education graduating with an Advanced Diploma in the Craft, Art & Design Programme at the Whitireia Community Polytechnic in Wellington in 1999. In 2001, she graduated with a BFA from The Quay School of the Arts, Wanganui, NZ majoring in Printmaking. She also graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Museum Studies in 2002 at Massey University. She then worked as a librarian in Wellington from 2003 to 2017. Susie has exhibited and sold her artworks in group and solo shows in the Philippines, New Zealand, and Fiji. She also worked as a freelance mixed media artist in a studio in Wellington where her focus was on Fiji folklore and aspects of Fijian cultural life. Since her return to Fiji in 2017, Susie has worked tirelessly to build up her art practice. She has been involved in art workshops, exhibitions, and commissions, and has since written two children’s books on ocean stories.
Susie states: ‘As a painter-printmaker, returning to Fiji has altered the way I regard the landscape here; my childhood country is a foreign and familiar one. There are layers of intense self-examination going on in the way I see myself in this island’s natural landscape. An important feature of my artistic process is working en plein air. I would describe my work as in part expressionistic and symbolist style using paints, graphite and ink.’
