We are thrilled to welcome Susan Laughton to the gallery. Susan working in architecture for twelve years before returning to education to study art, graduating in 2002 with a BA Hons Visual Art and Design (First) at the University of Bolton. Susan's work is exhibited regularly in the UK and is held in private collections in the UK, Europe, the US and Australia. It has been selected for the Royal West of England Academy Drawn exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition and Fully Awake 5:6 at the Freelands Foundation, London. Susan has been a professional artist since 2006 and currently works in Cheshire.

Susan Laughton’s long-standing interest in landscape and architecture has always inspired her painting and drawing. Vernacular buildings, both rural and urban, domestic and functional are a source of geometric, architectural forms. 

She uses a reductive approach to select and refine the intentional placement of linear and spatial elements. These deliberate forms are set against the more random physicality of different surfaces, whether they are hand applied layers of plaster or the grain of plywood that connect back to the built environment. The main geometric areas of the painting are first developed in her sketchbook, then engraved directly into the surface with an etching point to create a sgraffito effect.

Onto this foundation, multiple washes of paint are layered over the surface, and applied into masked areas, clinging to the plaster and acrylic in different ways. Laughton responds to these washes of colour with further sanding and etching of lines in conversation with the surface of the painting. This is a more emotional and subconscious approach after the methodical early stages.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2019 Balancing Act, &Gallery, Edinburgh

2019 Safekeeping, Staithes Studios Gallery, North Yorkshire

2018 Conscious Perception, The Stratford Gallery

2016 Susan Laughton, The Cold Press, Holt, Norfolk

2015 Travelling Light, Quercus Gallery, Bath

2011 Still Here greenroom, Manchester curated by Blank Media collective

2010 Measured Space, Duckett and Jeffreys Gallery, Malton, North Yorkshire

2009 Sightlines, Salford Museum & Art Gallery

2008 Haworth Museum & Gallery Accrington