Susan WOOD

SUSAN ELIZABETH WOOD 64, Canadian artist, educator, and mother died at the QEII Hospital in Halifax, NS on February 26, 2018. She is survived by her sons, David, James (Emma Cameron) and Aiden (Perryn Kruth). Susan is predeceased by her husband, (Stephen Fudge); brother, (Hal Wood); and father, (Tega Wood). She is survived by her mother, (Beulah 'Sandy' Wood); sisters, Nancy Wood (Mark McNeil) and Mary Jane Henderson (Cole Henderson); and sister-in-law, Norma Wood. She will be fondly remembered by many nieces and nephews. Susan was born in Saint John, New Brunswick and grew up in Amherst, Nova Scotia. She always aspired to be an artist and graduated with a BFA in 1976 from Mount Allison University. While at Mount Allison she met the love of her life and later to be husband, Stephen Fudge. She participated in the Banff Winter Studio Program (1976-1979) and received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Calgary in 1981. Susan and Stephen had their first son (David) in Calgary, Alberta. They moved to Saint John's, Newfoundland in 1983 and there she had her two other sons (Jamie and Aiden). She was the founding member of the Eastern Edge Gallery, taught at MUN Extension Arts and continued her studio practice while in Newfoundland. Susan and her family moved to Halifax in 1989 where she continued her art practice and career as an educator at NSCAD (1990-2013). She was a successful artist and over her career participated in group exhibitions across Canada, and in Finland, Germany, Scotland, Iceland, China and Australia. She also held a number of solo shows including her nationally touring Devil's Purse, Dress Drawings and Taxonomies. She has a nationally touring retrospective of her work Earth Skins: Three Decades of Drawings by Susan Wood. She was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and was a recipient of grants and awards from the Canada Council of the Arts, the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, and the Nova Scotia Arts Council. Susan held a huge sphere of influence. She was reputed as a 'legendary' professor at NSCAD and inspired countless artists, young and old. She gave back to the Arts Community through her involvement in a number of committees and boards. She was deeply in love with her late husband and very proud of her boys. She had an adventurous spirit and together as a family they had many wonderful trips, including sailing through the Caribbean and on both coasts of Canada and travel through Europe and Asia. Most of all she loved spending long days at the family cottage on the Northumberland Strait surrounded by her husband, boys and extended family: there was always much laughter, good food and drink, and swimming. Susan was a beautiful, gracious and talented artist, educator, friend, mother and wife. She has left this world too soon but through her life's work and relationships has made the world a more beautiful place. She will be deeply missed. Service to be held at Pier 21, Kenneth C. Rowe Hall on March 9th at 1 p.m. Reception to follow. And did you get what You wanted from this life, even so? I did And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself Beloved on the earth -Raymond Carter