Susan Benson
Susan Benson was originally trained as a painter in the UK before emigrating to Canada in 1966. She was a theatre designer for many years working throughout Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia. Her designs were seen for many companies including the Stratford Festival, Canadian Opera Company, the Banff Centre, National Ballet of Canada, San Francisco Opera, Royal Birmingham Ballet UK, National Ballet of Finland and the National Ballet of China. She continued to paint during the years that she was designing and returned to painting full time after moving to Salt Spring Island eleven years ago. Her work has been included in a number of juried, group and solo shows in BC and Ontario.
She was honoured to be awarded an Order of Canada for her design work and mentorship of young designers and artists and in 2019 a book about her design work ‘Susan Benson: Art, Design and Craft on Stage” by Patrica Flood was published by Firefly Books.