Suzanne DIonne-Coster

My name is Suzanne Dionne-Coster. I am a proud French Acadian, born in 1964 in Edmundston New-Brunwick, now living in Shawnigan Lake BC for the last 24 years. I have studied Fine Arts at le Cégep du View Montréal (Qc) and at the Université de Moncton (NB). I have a Masters in Education from the University of Alberta, and have had a long career as a teacher with many years as a grade 6-7 teacher at Mount Prevost in Duncan. I love swimming in cold water, making and discussing ART with friends, running, biking, stretching, breathing. I view artmaking as playing, being in the moment, an exploration of the self, others, and the environments, a challenge into the unsaid, the unseen, the undiscovered. In the lasts few years, I have been focusing on oil painting on canvas as well as ink, gouache and watercolor on sculpted Arche paper with both figurative and non-figurative subject matters. Through art, I am becoming my best person.

When I create art, I am happy and feel myself growing and learning more and more about myself, others and the world around me. I am inspired by the natural environnement, the shapes, lines, colours, textures, and even smells and sounds present everywhere around me when I am outside enjoying the island. My work aims to convey the beauty surrounding me, as much what is seen as the unseen, such as feelings, mood, atmosphere. Art for me is putting myself in a constant conversation with myself, the world and the medium I am working with. I use both oils and watercolour, the choice depending on the UNSEEN that I am trying to capture. I recently see my work going naturally more and more towards a non-figurative expression mode, although I still continue my path in discovering new ways of representing figurative subject matter in a way that goes beyond what I see. Also, I see myself more and more graphically attracted to WORDS and have been using the American typewriter font for in all writing included. Finally, I feel, love and use colour without any reserve.