Statement, biography and CV
13/10/2023
Artist statement
I am a painter using both oils and gouache. As a sea swimmer I find inspiration from my fellow female swimmers and from the landscape where we swim. The colour of our skins and the seascape around us are relayed onto the surface, sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract. I am interested in the space where environment meets human experience, physical and emotional closeness, relationships and connections.
A recent trip to Iceland added a deeper layer of abstraction to my work, this was a physical reaction to both the icy temperature and the prevailing colour white. I interpreted these elements into geometric compositions providing a solid structure on which I painted with animated, gestural brush strokes, wet on wet, in oil paint, enjoying the experience of paint sliding and blending.
In contrast and on a smaller scale, I use gouache on paper, making abstract studies where opaque colour and the tactile surface of flat paper are equally important.
Biography
Sue Bridge is a multi disciplinary artist, her career spanning painting, animation and design.
She has established herself in Folkestone’s Creative Quarter, relishing the freedom of having a studio where she can work on large canvases with vigour.
2023 has been busy, she has had multiple paintings selected for open calls, sales at Mall Galleries, London, sales at group shows, and at private galleries in Folkestone. She was awarded The Cass Art Prize for 'Most Innovative use of colour' at the Royal Institute of Painters in watercolour. Her current exuberant work is a testimony to her ongoing creativity, authentic, gestural with a love of materials - an exciting contrast to the work on computers in her design career.
2020, her animations were shown at 5 film festivals. She won an award for ‘The Last Egg’ at WRPN Women’s International Film Festival, Delaware US and the Women over fifty film festival (WOFFF) and has twice appeared for Q and A panels for the event.
2019, a painted animation was shown at The Turner Contemporary and The Photographers Gallery, London.
Her work is held in private collections both in the UK, Europe and the United States.
Sue studied Art and Visual Communication at Canterbury and Birmingham City Universities achieving a First class Honours degree in 1985. She was taught hand drawn animation by Bob Godfrey in his Covent Garden studio while at Uni and went on to have a long and successful career spanning 30 years at the BBC.
B. Kent 1963
Lives in Folkestone
CV
Education
2023 Parker Harris, Artists' mentoring, online webinars
2023 Culture Peinture, Gilbert Wolfisberg, online training
2018 The Working Artist Masterclass, Crista Cloutier, online training
2016 Post graduate Fine Art Professional Development programme at Tonbridge Art school
2014 Slade Summer School
1985 BA (Hons) Visual Communication, First Class, Birmingham City University
1984 Bob Godfrey Animation studio, Neal Street, London
1982 Foundation Course, Canterbury College of Art
Additional qualifications:
2019 Teach, Educate, Create Workshop Facilitator training Canterbury
Teaching and mentoring
2020 Animation workshops for all ages and abilities across Kent. Clients include Screen South, People United, Red Zebra, Canterbury Festival, and TakeUp Space Festival.
2019 BFI students for Screen South's BFI Academy, 4 years running
2017 One to one mentoring for Screen South
Employment
1985 - BBC TV
2017 Graphic, motion designer and illustrator specialising in animations for the BBC and its social media platforms.
Exhibitions/ film screenings
2023 Nov 16, ING, Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
2023 Sep 22, Studio 16 Connections, Folkestone Art Gallery, Folkestone
2023 Aug 22, Subliminal influences, Folkestone Art Gallery, Folkestone
2023 July 20, Subliminal influences, Horsebridge Centre, Whitstable
2023 Mar, Royal Institute Painters in Watercolours, Mall Galleries, London
2022 October 28, Xmas Open, Folkestone Art Gallery, Folkestone
2022 October 22, Winter Open, Lilford Gallery, Canterbury
2022 September 22, Land, Sea & Sky, Folkestone Art Gallery, Folkestone
2022 September 24, Embrace the elements, Neuron, Folkestone
2022 September 4, Your Menopause, animation screening, Lewes
2022 August 6, Positive Vibes, One New Street Art Gallery, Herne Bay
2022 July 29, Opening exhibition, Folkestone Art Gallery, Folkestone
2022 July 15, Aqua, Ryebank Gallery, Rye
2022 June 23, NEAC, Mall Galleries, London
2022 May 25, Seas the Day, Brewery Tap, UCA Project Space, Folkestone
2022 February 10, Dirty Secrets, Frontier Gallery, Sheffield
2022 January 25, Jon Bird Open, Fishslab Gallery, Whitstable
2021 Dec 'Zilch!' Group show curated by myself, 8 Squared Gallery, Folkestone
2021 Dec 'Art Hug' Solo show, 8 Squared Gallery, Folkestone
2021 'Sue Bridge works 2021' Touch base Gallery, Folkestone
2020 'The Last Egg' Animation selected for 5 International Film Festivals: WRPN Women's International Film Festival, Delaware US award winner & JellyFest Los Angeles, CA USA
WOOFF Women over 50 Film Festival UK September, commended
Experimental Forum, Los Angeles Festival July
MINT Rotterdam short film Festival Rotterdam February
2019 'Mine or yours?' Animation selected for 'Every Second Counts', STRANGELOVE TIME-BASED MEDIA FESTIVAL
Screenings at:
The Photographers Gallery London, February
Turner Contemporary Margate
Fabrica Brighton
Hop Projects Folkestone
2019 'IDENTITY' Otford School Year 4 animation workshop, Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, Kent
2017 Open Quarter Folkestone, Studio 7,Tontine Street, Folkestone
2017 ’Brink' Group exhibition Brew, Folkestone
2016 A1, Horsebridge, Whitstable
2016 ‘Sevenoaks Visual Arts Forum Open’ Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, Kent
2015 ’MEMORY' Pie Factory, Margate
2014 ‘Sevenoaks Visual Arts Forum Open’ Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, Kent
2014 ‘Tonbridge Arts Festival Open Exhibition' commended
2014 ‘South East area SEOS showcase exhibition’ Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, Kent
2013 ‘Sue Walker Solo Exhibition' Highlighting Form, Trinity Art Gallery, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
2013 ‘Fusion’ Kent College Pembury, commended
2013 ’South East Open Studios' Sue Walker, The Summer House, Tunbridge Wells
2016 ’Age of Austerity' University of Kent, Chatham Dockyard
2015 ’IN THE DOCK' University of Kent, Chatham Dockyard
2015 ‘POST’ Fine Art Professional Development Show West Kent College, Tonbridge
2015 ’Art Spring 2015' Tunnel Gallery, Tonbridge
2014 ’South East Open Studios Xmas in Hadlow'
2014 ’South East Open Studios' Tonbridge
2014 ’Portelli Room' Tonbridge
2014 ’Art Spring 2014' Tunnel Gallery, Tonbridge
Collections
Work held by private collectors across the UK, Europe and in the United States
Awards & grants
2023 Winner of Cass Prize for 'Most innovative use of colour'
Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours 2023 Mall Galleries
2020 Arts Council England
Selected Bibliography
2023 Subliminal Influences review
https://mailchi.mp/6bd441314370/subliminal-influences-show
2023 Folkestone Inspired podcast interview
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NKPwX82z0yKXMAEKZ6pns?si=VU0hAkWKQhmlZKWbYgzKig&nd=1
2020 WOFFF Q & A online September
Sue Bridge interviewed by Heidi McCormack, CEO Emerald Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=kqfh73wi7Fc&feature=emb_logo
2014 SEOS 2014 Showcase Exhibition ’25 members selected to show their work at this prestigious venue’ Current News
2013 Tonbridge Daily online review by Suzannah Niklas
http://tonbridgedaily.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/tonbridge-artist-sue-walker-at-trinity.html
2013 Tonbridge Daily online review by Suzannah Niklas
http://tonbridgedaily.blogspot.com/2013/06/tonbridge-artist-sue-walker.html
I am a painter using both oils and gouache. As a sea swimmer I find inspiration from my fellow female swimmers and from the landscape where we swim. The colour of our skins and the seascape around us are relayed onto the surface, sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract. I am interested in the space where environment meets human experience, physical and emotional closeness, relationships and connections.
A recent trip to Iceland added a deeper layer of abstraction to my work, this was a physical reaction to both the icy temperature and the prevailing colour white. I interpreted these elements into geometric compositions providing a solid structure on which I painted with animated, gestural brush strokes, wet on wet, in oil paint, enjoying the experience of paint sliding and blending.
In contrast and on a smaller scale, I use gouache on paper, making abstract studies where opaque colour and the tactile surface of flat paper are equally important.
Biography
Sue Bridge is a multi disciplinary artist, her career spanning painting, animation and design.
She has established herself in Folkestone’s Creative Quarter, relishing the freedom of having a studio where she can work on large canvases with vigour.
2023 has been busy, she has had multiple paintings selected for open calls, sales at Mall Galleries, London, sales at group shows, and at private galleries in Folkestone. She was awarded The Cass Art Prize for 'Most Innovative use of colour' at the Royal Institute of Painters in watercolour. Her current exuberant work is a testimony to her ongoing creativity, authentic, gestural with a love of materials - an exciting contrast to the work on computers in her design career.
2020, her animations were shown at 5 film festivals. She won an award for ‘The Last Egg’ at WRPN Women’s International Film Festival, Delaware US and the Women over fifty film festival (WOFFF) and has twice appeared for Q and A panels for the event.
2019, a painted animation was shown at The Turner Contemporary and The Photographers Gallery, London.
Her work is held in private collections both in the UK, Europe and the United States.
Sue studied Art and Visual Communication at Canterbury and Birmingham City Universities achieving a First class Honours degree in 1985. She was taught hand drawn animation by Bob Godfrey in his Covent Garden studio while at Uni and went on to have a long and successful career spanning 30 years at the BBC.
B. Kent 1963
Lives in Folkestone
CV
Education
2023 Parker Harris, Artists' mentoring, online webinars
2023 Culture Peinture, Gilbert Wolfisberg, online training
2018 The Working Artist Masterclass, Crista Cloutier, online training
2016 Post graduate Fine Art Professional Development programme at Tonbridge Art school
2014 Slade Summer School
1985 BA (Hons) Visual Communication, First Class, Birmingham City University
1984 Bob Godfrey Animation studio, Neal Street, London
1982 Foundation Course, Canterbury College of Art
Additional qualifications:
2019 Teach, Educate, Create Workshop Facilitator training Canterbury
Teaching and mentoring
2020 Animation workshops for all ages and abilities across Kent. Clients include Screen South, People United, Red Zebra, Canterbury Festival, and TakeUp Space Festival.
2019 BFI students for Screen South's BFI Academy, 4 years running
2017 One to one mentoring for Screen South
Employment
1985 - BBC TV
2017 Graphic, motion designer and illustrator specialising in animations for the BBC and its social media platforms.
Exhibitions/ film screenings
2023 Nov 16, ING, Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
2023 Sep 22, Studio 16 Connections, Folkestone Art Gallery, Folkestone
2023 Aug 22, Subliminal influences, Folkestone Art Gallery, Folkestone
2023 July 20, Subliminal influences, Horsebridge Centre, Whitstable
2023 Mar, Royal Institute Painters in Watercolours, Mall Galleries, London
2022 October 28, Xmas Open, Folkestone Art Gallery, Folkestone
2022 October 22, Winter Open, Lilford Gallery, Canterbury
2022 September 22, Land, Sea & Sky, Folkestone Art Gallery, Folkestone
2022 September 24, Embrace the elements, Neuron, Folkestone
2022 September 4, Your Menopause, animation screening, Lewes
2022 August 6, Positive Vibes, One New Street Art Gallery, Herne Bay
2022 July 29, Opening exhibition, Folkestone Art Gallery, Folkestone
2022 July 15, Aqua, Ryebank Gallery, Rye
2022 June 23, NEAC, Mall Galleries, London
2022 May 25, Seas the Day, Brewery Tap, UCA Project Space, Folkestone
2022 February 10, Dirty Secrets, Frontier Gallery, Sheffield
2022 January 25, Jon Bird Open, Fishslab Gallery, Whitstable
2021 Dec 'Zilch!' Group show curated by myself, 8 Squared Gallery, Folkestone
2021 Dec 'Art Hug' Solo show, 8 Squared Gallery, Folkestone
2021 'Sue Bridge works 2021' Touch base Gallery, Folkestone
2020 'The Last Egg' Animation selected for 5 International Film Festivals: WRPN Women's International Film Festival, Delaware US award winner & JellyFest Los Angeles, CA USA
WOOFF Women over 50 Film Festival UK September, commended
Experimental Forum, Los Angeles Festival July
MINT Rotterdam short film Festival Rotterdam February
2019 'Mine or yours?' Animation selected for 'Every Second Counts', STRANGELOVE TIME-BASED MEDIA FESTIVAL
Screenings at:
The Photographers Gallery London, February
Turner Contemporary Margate
Fabrica Brighton
Hop Projects Folkestone
2019 'IDENTITY' Otford School Year 4 animation workshop, Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, Kent
2017 Open Quarter Folkestone, Studio 7,Tontine Street, Folkestone
2017 ’Brink' Group exhibition Brew, Folkestone
2016 A1, Horsebridge, Whitstable
2016 ‘Sevenoaks Visual Arts Forum Open’ Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, Kent
2015 ’MEMORY' Pie Factory, Margate
2014 ‘Sevenoaks Visual Arts Forum Open’ Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, Kent
2014 ‘Tonbridge Arts Festival Open Exhibition' commended
2014 ‘South East area SEOS showcase exhibition’ Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, Kent
2013 ‘Sue Walker Solo Exhibition' Highlighting Form, Trinity Art Gallery, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
2013 ‘Fusion’ Kent College Pembury, commended
2013 ’South East Open Studios' Sue Walker, The Summer House, Tunbridge Wells
2016 ’Age of Austerity' University of Kent, Chatham Dockyard
2015 ’IN THE DOCK' University of Kent, Chatham Dockyard
2015 ‘POST’ Fine Art Professional Development Show West Kent College, Tonbridge
2015 ’Art Spring 2015' Tunnel Gallery, Tonbridge
2014 ’South East Open Studios Xmas in Hadlow'
2014 ’South East Open Studios' Tonbridge
2014 ’Portelli Room' Tonbridge
2014 ’Art Spring 2014' Tunnel Gallery, Tonbridge
Collections
Work held by private collectors across the UK, Europe and in the United States
Awards & grants
2023 Winner of Cass Prize for 'Most innovative use of colour'
Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours 2023 Mall Galleries
2020 Arts Council England
Selected Bibliography
2023 Subliminal Influences review
https://mailchi.mp/6bd441314370/subliminal-influences-show
2023 Folkestone Inspired podcast interview
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NKPwX82z0yKXMAEKZ6pns?si=VU0hAkWKQhmlZKWbYgzKig&nd=1
2020 WOFFF Q & A online September
Sue Bridge interviewed by Heidi McCormack, CEO Emerald Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=kqfh73wi7Fc&feature=emb_logo
2014 SEOS 2014 Showcase Exhibition ’25 members selected to show their work at this prestigious venue’ Current News
2013 Tonbridge Daily online review by Suzannah Niklas
http://tonbridgedaily.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/tonbridge-artist-sue-walker-at-trinity.html
2013 Tonbridge Daily online review by Suzannah Niklas
http://tonbridgedaily.blogspot.com/2013/06/tonbridge-artist-sue-walker.html
