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After studying Art in Fremantle, Riley returned to her home state of South Australia where she lives on Bunganditj country in the seaside village of Robe.
Immersed in this coastal landscape that is central to her work, daily walks are a ritual that give her an opportunity to notice subtle shifts of light and shadow, colour and form.
These impressions are first captured in small plain air sketches in pastel or gouache, which act as seeds for larger works in oil. In the studio, she builds each painting through transparent glazes and dense impasto, layering calligraphic marks with confident brushwork to create surfaces that seem to record the slow accumulation of time.
Drawing on a sensitive knowledge of pigment, and a confident use of tone she explores how opposites reveal each other, seeking a balance of order and chaos, stillness and movement, a natural rhythm in the landscape.
We are left with a body of work both thoughtful and spontaneous, carefully observed but defined by memory.
Exhibitions
2016 Finalist Adelaide Parklands Art Prize
2017 Finalist Hahndorf Academy, Adelaide Hills Art Prize
2018 Far Horizons, Women and Children’s Hospital
2018 Satellite Exhibition of the Fleurieu Biennale
2018 SALA- Artworx
2018 DogRidge Winery
2019 SALA – Artworx
2019 Finalist Hahndorf Academy, Adelaide Hills Art Prize
2020 Solo Exhibition – Coorong, Art Images Gallery
2020 SALA – Artworx
2020 Group Exhibition - Artworx
2020 Cornerstore Gallery for Paper Pear
2021 SALA – Artworx
2021 SALA – Wild Olive Studio
2021 New Horizons – Karratta Wines
2021 Summer Salon - Michael Reid Northern Beaches
2022 Festival of Landscapes – Art Images
2022 SALA Artworx Gallery and Gifts
2022 Loreto College Spring Art
2022 Incognito Art Show
2020 Finalist Paddington Art Prize
2021 Finalist Tatiara Art Prize
2023 Finalist Hawkesbury Art Prize
2023 Highly Commended Hawkesbury Art Prize, Residency and Peoples choice
2023 Inaugural Residency, Coorong Life
2023 Karatta Gallery, You and I are Earth,
2024 Art Images Gallery, Reflections on Water, Group Exhibition
2024 Hazelhurst Gallery, Far Horizons, Group Exhibition
2024 Art Images Gallery, Christmas Exhibition, Group Exhibition
2024 Curator Southern Oceans Art Prize
2024 Winner Belinda Morgan Limestone Coast Resident Award SOAP
2025 Art Images Gallery, Summer Loving, Group Exhibition
2025 Drift, Mining Memories, Solo Exhibition
2025 Hawkesbury Art Prize Residency
2025 Robe Reflections, Book Exhibition
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Waters Edge
“There is a peace that I love in an untouched landscape, where nature finds its own balance, a purity and surprise in organic, irregular shapes and patterns.”
“A childhood spent in a family shack at Little Dip National Park, has been key to this appreciation.”
“Endless days spent roaming free on the beaches and dunes of the southern coast. Evenings telling stories around a campfire beneath a sprawling, twisted tea tree, afforded me a freedom, I only now fully appreciate. Seeds for my imagination and memories that guide my hand, they enable my story of this landscape.”
“A wild rugged coastline sculpted by southern winds that erode and inscribe, soothed by the cleansing horizon of salt lagoons and sunset skies. Carpets of samphire and saltbush, russet, pink and ochre, woven with smokey sage and a violet haze. Salt lakes tinted dusty hues of pink, and vast lagoons that reflect the sky.”
“I am simply in love with it all.”
Suzie Riley, 2025.
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Shipping to anywhere in Australia is jut $80 for this work. International shipping is available on request.
