Suzanna Reynolds
Visual Artist
about
Suzanna Reynolds is a contemporary figurative artist whose work examines the intersection of belonging, displacement, memory, and presence. Her practice, deeply influenced by a long career in Social Work, uses large-scale drawing and painting to excavate the human condition, focusing on trauma, resilience, and connection. Born in Scotland and based in Herefordshire, Reynolds utilises the body as a site for vulnerability, often allowing images to emerge intuitively from the unconscious through raw, physical gestures. Her work is visually anchored in monumentality and expressive form, seeking to render visible the unseen emotional burdens we carry while creating an empathetic Sanctuary that honours human connection.
statement
My work is a form of subconscious archaeology—an excavation of memory, loss, and survival.
I work intuitively with charcoal, pastel, and acrylic, allowing the materials to guide me into the depths of feeling that resist language. The process is not about controlling the image but about surrendering to it—following a thread of emotional resonance until it speaks back. Charcoal, with its impermanence and ability to cling, feels particularly apt—like memory itself, it marks, smudges, erases, and returns.
My drawings become pastel paintings and often span two or three metres, inviting the viewer into immersive encounters. They are about presence; a visceral immediacy; a confrontation with what lies beneath.
My imagery is figurative and expressionistic—stretching between the symbolic and the surreal. The figures, often maternal or spectral, inhabit ambiguous spaces and emotional thresholds. I’m drawn to Renaissance composition, but my use of colour—or its absence—follows a different logic: psychological, instinctive, even alchemical.
Themes of sexuality, spirituality, and survival are constant. My background in Freudian and Jungian theory has informed my understanding of dream language and unconscious expression, and these influences appear in the symbolic layers of my compositions. But the art itself emerges from a place beyond theory—a place of rupture, and of raw knowing. My 40- year career as a social worker in children's services and mental health provides a radical focus on how my stories unfold.
The figures in my work hover between presence and absence, connection and disconnection. Fragmented and expressionistic, they embody vulnerability and resilience- celebrating the fearless beauty of imperfection, and the strength it takes to endure and survive. I miss- translate the world trusting that the cracks might become openings. As William Kentridge says 'the world hides itself'. My art does not seek to solve it but to make possible sense - to find songs hidden in the fragments.
CURRICULUM VITAE
August 2026
Royal Portrait Drawing Prize
Long Listed
29th March - 28th April 2026
VAS Visual Arts Scotland
Future Folklore. MacLaurin Gallery Ayr
20 -28th March 2026
Here Without A Home
Artlandish Hereford
8th March 2026
The Giant Draw
Artlandish Hereford
26th Feb - 2nd March 2026
Flee - The Suitcase Project
Artlandish Hereford
21st Jan - 8th Feb 2026
There's no Place Like Home
Artlandish Hereford
1st - 31st May 2025
TIDES OF TRUTHS UNSPOKEN - Solo Exhibition
Bloom Space, Hereford
Drawings paintings prints digital
1 -12th March 2025
UNSEEN - Group Exhibition
Bloom Space. Hereford
diverse exhibition showcasing 20 artists in the HWAN
(Herefordshire Visual Art Network)
1 - 11th November 2024
SlayHayLife OPEN
The Chair. Hay-on-Wye
14 -21st October 2024
UNFRAMED - Group Exhibition
The Left Bank. Hereford
A diverse exhibition showcasing 20 artists in the HWAN
(Herefordshire Visual Art Network)
7th-15th September 2024
2024- Herefordshire Art Week. .
OPEN STUDIOS
Exhibition will run until December
viewing by appointment
tel: 07989 454280
email: suzannareynolds@ymail.com
Suzanna unfortunately had to take a career break with her Art, due to the Covid pandemic and then severe ill health.
Exhibitions (2010 - Present):
• Jan - March 2016:
The Courtyard, Hereford - Solo Show
• September 2013:
Posterity. Let’s Face It
• June 2013: Summer Show - Hereford College of Arts, Prize-winne
• March 2013: Solo Show -
Kidwell’s Law, Hereford
• January 2013:
The Courtyard, Hereford
• November 2012:
The Hub, HCA, Hereford
• July 2012:
Three Choirs Exhibition - Artist representing Herefordshire, The Courtyard, Hereford
• May 2012 - 2013:
Book Art, Various UK Venues, Prize-winner
• Jan 2012:
Featured Spotlight Interview, Artweb.com
• Jan 2012:
Featured Website of the Week, Artweb.com
• Jan - Feb 2012:
Second Helpings, Apple Store Gallery, Hereford
• 2011 - 2012:
Book Art, Various UK Venues, Commendation
• April - June 2011:
Take One, Hereford City Museum and Art Gallery
• 2010 - 2011:
Book Art, Various UK Venues
• Sept 2010:
The Old House Museum, Hereford
• Sept 2010:
MINIWORKS, The Courtyard, Hereford, Prize-winn
• June 2010:
Summer Show, Hereford College of Arts
• August 2010:
The Big Chill Festival
Residencies:
• 2011: Downstairs, Herefordshire
• 2013: Meadow Arts, Croft Castle, Prize-winner 2013
Shows (prior to 2013):
• 2001:
Ombersley Gallery, Worcestershire - Solo Show
• 2001:
Malvern Theatres - Solo Show
• 2001:
Broadway Modern, John Noot Galleries Worcestershire
• 2001:
Sheffield Showroom - Solo Show
• 2001:
Equilibrium, Chiswick, London
• 2001:
Cowleigh Gallery, Malvern, Worcestershire
• 2002:
Ombersley Gallery, Worcestershire
• 2002:
Broadway Modern, John Noot Gallerie Worcestershire
• 2002:
Chelsea Art Fair, London.
• 2002:
Fairfax Gallery, Tunbridge Wells
• 2003:
Broadway Modern, John Noot Galleries Worcestershire
• 2003:
Malvern Theatres, Worcestershire
• 2003:
Cowleigh Gallery, Malvern, Worcestershire
Education:
• 2013: First Class B.A. Hons Fine Art,
Hereford College of Arts, University of Wales
• 2012: Foundation Degree, Contemporary Art Practice, Hereford College of Arts, University of Wales
• 2010: Foundation Diploma in Art and Design University of the Arts London
• 1981: CQSW, Dip SW,
University of Edinburgh
• 1978: B.Sc. Psychology/History of Art
University of St Andrews
contact
Tel: +44 7989 454280
Studio: The Mill, Monksbury Court Barns, Ledbury Herefordshire HR82TU UK