Profile
Susan Kinley
At the heart of my practice is a drive and commitment to making works that cross boundaries of disciplines, materials and processes and respond to particular places across time. My starting points are often archaeological sites at the coastal boundaries of Britain and Ireland, and works in glass, enamels and Japanese papers mirror both the wider landscape and small, close up details.
Much of my recent work draws from the Bronze Age landscape of West Penwith and the Isles of Scilly, where I have immersed myself in particular places, often returning several times to photograph and record changes. Drawings and images evolve into shaped wall pieces, paperworks and installations that are water jet cut and fired with layers of translucent glass enamels.
Commissions in the public realm have included large scale architectural glass windows and panels for interiors in health care settings, community buildings, galleries and museums.
Currently: Artistic Quality Assessor for Arts Council England and workshop leader for the Seeing The Landscape project with Penwith Landscape Partnership.
BA Hons [1st] Goldsmiths [University of London]
MA Royal College of Art & Design
Exhibitions [selected]
2020 The Pyramid Gallery, York – Life Forms
2019 Collect Open 2019, Crafts Council, West South West – An Installation of glass wall panels, Saatchi Gallery [catalogue]
2018 Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance – Newlyn Society of Artists
2018 Marshwood Arts Awards, Bridport Arts Centre – Applied Arts winner. Black Swan Gallery, Frome – Black Swan Open
2018 Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance – Borders
2016 North Lands Creative & Scottish Glass Society – Lybster, Caithness & Coburg House, Edinburgh – Elemental [catalogue]
2016 Artsreach, Dorset – Touring exhibition responding to the landscape & archaeology of the South Dorset Ridgeway
2016 Studio Fusion Gallery, South Bank, London – Glass wall panels
2016 Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Bovey Tracey – Re-Making the Past, touring to Farnham Crafts Study Centre, Bilston Crafts Gallery, Wolverhampton
2013 Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Cambridge – Inspiration From the Bronze Age – A Response, touring to Wiltshire Heritage Museum
2013 Ruthin Crafts Centre, Wales – Rendevous Goldsmiths
2012 Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery – New Light on Newlyn: A glass wall installation in response to Marazion Marshes & Newlyn School paintings
2011 The Exchange Gallery, Penzance, Print! – Island Fields: A horizontal glass map installation incorporating aerial photography
2009 Walford Mill, Dorset – Overview – Solo Exhibition [Catalogue]
2009 Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum & touring – On the Edge:Contemporary Glass Artists from Ireland & South West England [catalogue]
2008 Collect [Devon Guild of Craftsmen] – Victoria & Albert Museum, London [Catalogue]
2005 Met Office, Exeter – Elemental Insight [Catalogue]
2002 Newlyn Gallery, Penzance – Construction
2001 Japan House, London, Layering Light, Solo Exhibition
2000 Nagoya University, Japan – Japanese Connections
1998 Takenaka Architects, Osaka, Japan, Solo Exhibition
1997 Victoria & Albert Museum, London – Silk & Glass panels [Crafts Council]
1996 Six Chapel Row, Bath – Six of the best
1992 Spacex Gallery, Exeter – Women Artists in the South West
1990 Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery – South West Open
1988 Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland – International Tapestry Biennale
1987 Del Bello Gallery, Toronto – Miniature Art
1987 Icon Gallery, Birmingham – Paint & Paper
1985 Camden Arts Centre – Material Evidence
1983 ICA, London – Sideshow
1982 Kilkenny Design Centre, Dublin – Paperworks, Solo Exhibition
2019 Arts Council England Project Award for Collect Open
2018 Cultivator Cornwall CIG Award
2017 Marshwood Arts Award – Applied Arts
2017 Cultivator Cornwall CIG Award [Professional development]
2014 Arts Council England – Exhibition Award, Re-Making the Past
2013 Arts Council England – Research Award, Re-Making the Past
2010 Arts Council England South West – Grants for the Arts Award
2007 David Cantor Memorial Award
2000 Year of the Artist Project Award [Arts Council South West]
1997 Anglo-Diawa Japan Foundation – Travel & Research Award
2016 Field Days – Arts Reach, Dorset, in partnership with Dorset AONB & South Dorset Ridgeway Landscape Partnership Scheme
2012/13 Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Cambridge & Devizes Museum, Wiltshire – Site Specific Installations [CinBa Project]
2011 The New Bewbush Healthy Living Centre, Crawley, West Sussex – 22 Large Scale laminated glass window panels & interior banners
2008 Falmouth Art Gallery & Museum – Community stained glass window project [Mencap & children excluded from schools]
2006 Blackberry Hill Hospital, Fromeside Unit, Bristol – Glass panels for a new Multi-Faith Room for Reflection [Moving On, Willis Newson]
2002 Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital – Printed glass screens for the entrance garden to the new Haematology Unit
2003/4 The Moor Regeneration Project – A series of 10 printed glass panels for Bus Stop Shelters [Carrick Council, Cornwall]
The New Gloucester Royal Children’s Hospital – Vinyl flooring designs for waiting areas, corridors & A&E unit.
2000 Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance, Cornwall – Laminated glass memorial window
1998 Marks & Spencer Headquarters, St Michael’s House, London – Wall Panels
1995 British Embassy, Dublin – Eight large scale silk hangings for atrium [Public Art Commissions Agency]
1989 Issey Miyake, London – Silk and Japanese paper panels
1990 – 2019 Many private commissions for interior spaces, including architectural glass panels.
Projects, Residencies, Talks & Workshops [Selected]
2018
Patterns of Penwith – A Feast Cornwall Bright Sparks project in collaboration with Penlee House Art Gallery & Museum, exploring places in West Cornwall that Alec Walker worked from for his wood block print designs for Crysede in the 1920’s. This project includes discovery packs, workshops for adults & children, and a celebratory event, with input from Cornwall College students.
Cultivator Cornwall funding to work with University of Sunderland/National Glass Centre on new water jet cut glass project linking archaeology in Scotland and Cornwall.
‘Steam’ workshop with Truro Schools at Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro
2015/17 Arts workshop leader for Comic Relief funded project, Smart Savings.
2016 Talk at Coburg House Gallery, Edinburgh, in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Elemental’ – Scottish Glass Society
2015 Project Management of Re-Making the Past exhibition events including talks, seminars, field trips and workshops.
Farnham Craft Study Centre [University of the Creative Arts] – A talk discussing the work of the five artists in the Re-Making the Past exhibition.
2014 Arts Council England funded research into Neolithic & Bronze Age sites on Orkney.
2013 Workshops for Penryn Arts Festival [with Penryn Museum], Penwith Arts Week & Cornwall Design Fair [Trereife House]
Selected for participation in the CinBa project [Creativity in Middle & Late Bronze Age Europe], led by Southampton University with partners
[Crafts Council, National Museum of Denmark and Cambridge University]. Talks, discussions, seminars, field trips & exhibitions.
2010/12 Artistic Assessor for Arts Council England
2011 ‘Lightworks’ workshop at The Exchange Gallery, Penzance
2010 West Midlands Designer Makers, talk, ‘From Small to Big’’
2007 Funding from the David Cantor Trust for aerial photography over the Isles of Scilly for Island Fields glass installation
2000/11 Part time lecturer BA Textiles, Falmouth University
1998 Residency at Takenaka Corporation, Osaka, Japan
1997/2000 Course Leader HNC/HND Fine Art Textiles, Cornwall College
1992/96 Part time lecturer Foundation Course, Falmouth College of Art
1990 One Year Textile Fellowship for Cornwall, based at Falmouth College of Art
