Susan Furneaux

Conception Harbour, NL CAN

Intimacy with materials in process, usage and place is the foundation of my work. I grow, nurture, forage and process my materials, my art and homesteading lifestyle inseparable. The seasons, the ebbs and flows of nature are present in the materials. The practice is a ritual of connection and integration with my environment where the cycle of life and death are ever present. Using both traditional and unexpected natural fibres, I create finely crafted pieces that discuss the infinite offerings of textile materials from the boreal forest and peat bogs of the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland. This work is reflective of my settler ancestors’ tradition of ‘making do’, skilled makers who resourcefully created beautiful work with what was close by.
Susan Furneaux is an award-winning artist, educator and craft consultant in Newfoundland and Labrador. Over the past 30 years, she has created, taught and promoted fine textiles techniques throughout Canada and the United States. Susan’s studio practice is grounded ‘in place’; she raises, grows, hunts and forages her materials in the boreal forests and peat bogs that surround her studio in Conception Harbour, NL. Susan is an instructor in the College of the North Atlantic’s award-winning, Textile and Apparel Design Program, and is passionate about sharing her knowledge of textiles.