Susannah Strong

Areas of Expertise

• Drawing, painting, comics, sculpture, contemporary art practice, artistic research

Education

• BFA in painting, Rhode Island School of Design (1990)
• M.A. in textiles, goldsmiths, University of London (2003)
• MFA in illustration, Hartford Art School, University of Hartford (2015)

View My CV

What's My Why?

As an educator, I bring over 30 years of experience as a practicing artist into the classroom, fostering a thoughtful and research-driven approach to teaching. My methods emphasize critical thinking, material exploration, conceptual depth and personal reflection, guiding students to develop their own voices within contemporary art practice.

My professional artistic practice explores the intersections of drawing, painting, comics and sculpture. My work is not just about creating images but about investigating the deeper narratives, structures and meanings embedded in visual language. Through a contemplative and experimental approach, I navigate the boundaries between traditional and new media, integrating research-driven concepts with a felt response to the world.

Professional Experience

My work has been shown in galleries, museums and alternative art spaces nationally and internationally. I have been awarded artist residencies at the Edward Albee Foundation and the Contemporary Artists Center in North Adams, Massachusetts. I am a three-time recipient of individual artist fellowships in new media and three-dimensional art from the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts and was awarded a McColl Johnson Fellowship in writing from the Rhode Island Foundation for work on a graphic novel. My artwork has been collected by playwright Edward Albee and conceptual artist Sol LeWitt, and I have an artist's book in the collection of the Boston Athenaeum. Additionally, I served as an archaeological illustrator for the Akhenaten Temple Project (University of Toronto) in Mendes, Egypt. 

Selected Publications

"Artists in the Marketplace: 20 Years," Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY. Marysol Nieves, curator.

"Video Marathon," Art in General, New York, NY.

"Series and Confusion," G. E. C. Gallery, London, England.

"Of Totems, Traps, Maps and James Jesus Angleton," David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI. Jo-Ann Conklin, curator.

"Curiouser," Museum of Natural History, Providence, RI. A response to the museum's Victorian specimen collection, Eric and Erika Carlson, co-curators.