Suzanne McCrae is passionate about animals.
The Copper Cliff artist received funding from the northern artist grant of the Ontario Arts Council in 2007 to portray bears in a number of locations across the north.
“I was funded to do a number of pieces at various garbage dump sites over a couple of months,” she said, as she chuckled.
McCrae is originally from the small town of Manitouwadge, west of Wawa.
“As young persons we would go to the town dump to watch the bears for entertainment,” she said.
When she returned to the town for its 50th anniversary in 2004, people advised her they still to go to the dump to see the bears, she explained.
“It made me wonder whether they were imposing on us in our territory or whether we were imposing on them in their territory. That prompted me to do some research on bears,” she added.
McCrae said a professor at Laurentian University gave her a bear skull for reference. That helped her in her artwork of them.
“I applied for a grant from the Ontario Arts Council for a four month grant to go to a number of dump sites in Sudbury and the near north area.”
She ended up doing 40 pieces on bears. She is still putting up her pieces on bears on her website along with some text she has written about each piece.
“Bears have been a controversial topic here in northern Ontario but I find people in southern Ontario are very interested in them. I guess that is because they think it is interesting for us to have them wandering through our town. They don't have that experience.” She has sold her animal portraits as far away as British Columbia.
McCrae also does a lot of teaching, mainly through her classes at the Art Gallery of Sudbury. Her adult classes run from Jan. 20 to Mar. 10 at the Art Gallery. She also teaches privately. She teaches both watercolours and acrylic courses. They are eight weeks at the Art Gallery at a cost of $135. Students will need to budget about $100 for materials.
Some attend because they just want a different experience, she said.
"One lady told me she just enjoys getting away from everything to come out to my classes.”
Private tutoring classes for children and adults are $25 an hour. People can be novices to participate. She said they will be able to bring home their work and be proud of it.
“There is quite a bit of interest in painting, much of it from retired people.
She does outreach painting programs at various seniors residences in the city.
“I find there are people who have always wanted to paint but who never had the opportunity presented to them. I get them to work from a basket of fruit or from a photograph.”
McCrae is also active with the Sudbury Arts Council. She is their communications manager and is endeavoring to make local artists more widely known by helping to upgrade their website.
“I think this is a very exciting time for northern arts. We are becoming more recognized. The Ontario Arts Council has established a northern grants program that artists here can take advantage of.”
She pointed out that in Sudbury there are many more exhibitions and an increasing number of gatherings for artists. For example, there is a cultural policy workshop, The Politics of Art and the Art of Politics, presented by the Canadian Conference of the Arts, in association with the Sudbury Arts council, Thursday Jan. 14, 2010 at Tom Davies Square foyer, 6-9 p.m. Seating is limited she said. To register, phone 560-5412 or email [email protected].
For more information on McCrae visit www.suzannemccrae.com or phone 682-1265.
