Suezan Aikins

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

(born 1952), is a Canadian

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

living in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Life and work

Aikens was born in Montreal in 1952. She studied at

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Mount Allison was the first university in the British Empire to award a baccal ...

, the

Ontario College of Art Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park and Entertainment District neighbourhoods ...

and the L' École du Musee des Beaux Arts, then earned a BFA at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. Aikins and her husband, Sam Rogers spent a year at the Yoshida Woodblock Print Studio in Tokyo, studying Japanese woodblock technique under the direction of

Tōshi Yoshida was a Japanese printmaking artist associated with the '' sōsaku-hanga'' movement, and was the son of ''shin-hanga'' artist Hiroshi Yoshida. Childhood One of Yoshida's legs was paralysed during his early childhood. Not being able to attend sc ...

. Following the traditional division of labor between carver and printer, Aikins prepares her images and carves the blocks, while Rogers completes the printing tasks. Aikins draws on both Western and Eastern art traditions in her work. She states, "I wanted to use all I had learned of abstraction's explorations of color and space in landscapes where light and shade echo and evoke spiritual states." Aikins' work is represented in the collections of the Canada Council Art Bank, the Nickle Arts Museum -

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

, and the

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial museums of Canada, provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up ...

, Aikins was made a member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria on 16 ...

in 1990

Notes

External links

Suezan Aikins (personal site)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aikins, Suezan 1952 births Living people 20th-century Canadian printmakers Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts OCAD University alumni 20th-century Canadian women artists