Author of The Painter's Craft, editor and contributor for six Hill Spirits anthologies, Susan Statham was born in Toronto and raised Fredericton N.B. and Ottawa. A graduate of Algonquin College she worked in a children's psychiatric hospital. Returning to Toronto, she raised two sons and worked in special education. While attending the National Portrait Academy she travelled to Italy for a workshop at the Cecil Graves studio and by special invitation, to New York to visit the Art Students league. With a major in psychology, and courses in advanced fiction writing, she completed her degree at the University of Waterloo and obtained a job as a school librarian. Moving to the Cobourg area, Susan taught adult classes in both writing and painting from her home studio, the Cobourg Library and Fleming College. For Canada's sesquicentennial, Susan was commissioned to paint twelve of Canada's prime ministers for a series called The Nation Builders. the 2021 she received Cobourg's Distinguished Civic Award for Arts and Culture. Susan is the president of the Cobourg Art Club, a past president of the Spirit of the Hills Arts Association and Chair of the Spirit of the Hills Writers Group.
