For most of her life, Sue Pyper lived in the world of “practical” creativity, as a production manager and designer for magazines in London, England. But her arrival to Vancouver Island’s Comox Valley in 2000 opened her up to a more spontaneous relationship with the visual arts. Applying artistic skills previously developed at art school in London, she turned to expressions of nature in all its forms.

Sue has worked in a variety of media, including pen and ink, watercolour, and most recently, working in three dimensions, using live edge wood as a starting point. Her pieces always begins with the form suggested by the natural object itself. Sue feels that in every material arising from nature, there is an intrinsic essence that reaches beyond the corporeal. Wood, often having lived for longer than any human, embodies this intangible content. Through the working process, she enters an almost meditative state, applying acrylic ink in a pointillistic style until she feels that she has connected with the inner life story of the piece. She frequently embellishes the pieces with sterling silver, copper and abalone details.

Sue’s techniques and use of media continue to evolve: she feels the inspiration available from her natural environment is limitless and has allowed her to “spread her wings” and work on more adventurous pieces, all the while wondering “where this will take me?”