Sue Marshall was born in Palmerston North and attended Wellington Polytechnic where she trained for a Diploma of Graphic Design. After eight years working as a Television Graphic Artist in Auckland, Marshall trained to become a high school teacher and taught briefly at Epsom Girls Grammar School. In 1981, Marshall moved to Christchurch where she trained for a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a double major in Painting and Art History. Returning to Auckland in 2000, she taught Art at Westlake Girls' High School and has exhibited almost yearly with a group of women artists.
Artist's statement: Elemental and classical forms have played a significant part in the development of my art practice. The use of the human form and fabric being the most dominate. As lesbian artist I felt they were safe to use and manipulate for my own messages. More recently I have used symbols such as the rainbow and the rose. I find symbols interesting as they can communicate to the viewer on a number of levels. They can be steeped in historical meaning and have intellectual significance, or they can hold emotional meaning that has developed by many years of visual repetition. As an artist I am playing with these forms and symbols and changing their context so they communicate with a lesbian and gay audience. I also use floating imagery to evoke a sense of weightlessness and journey. This could be the journey of life or a spiritual journey into the unknown, which I feel holds special relevance to a lesbian way of life.
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