Project Description

Suzanne Archer’s 50 year retrospective exhibition, Song of the Cicada, celebrated the artist’s illustrious career and presented new work.

Over five decades, Suzanne Archer has established herself as a painter, sculptor and installation artist. Primarily known for her large textural paintings, Archer has maintained an impressive career that cements her position within abstraction and expressionism, a position defined by the objects and thematics she presents in her work. Song of the Cicada explored three major themes which recur in Archer’s practice – death and skeletons, travel and landscapes – and traced her artistic success and personal tales.

The artist has strong ties to Campbelltown, living and working in Wedderburn, where a number of resident artists play a significant role in contributing to the cultural dynamic of the community. 

Education/Community Engagement

Saturday 13 April 2019: Artist talk with Suzanne Archer and Kon Gouriotis OAM, Editor of Artist Profile magazine. C-A-C developed a schools resource documenting and exploring Archer’s career and sustained technical practice, with responsive activities and questions for primary and secondary students. As part of school excursions to this exhibition, artist, educator and Creatability NSW trainee Adam Jones worked with C-A-C team to develop practical workshops for primary school attendees, informed by Archer’s focus on persona’s and self-portraiture, and informed by his own practice.

Suzanne Archer presented a guided tour and gallery floor talk for tertiary students in fine arts, as part of C-A-C’s Tertiary Talks series, sharing her fervent studio practice and insight into her documentation and development processes.