Susan Rankin

Susan Rankin is known for her glass art. An avid gardener, her own garden is a recurring source of inspiration. She physically manipulates the garden while observing how it becomes its own living being. She is fascinated at how these defined areas can easily surround and overpower the initial space. Rankin spends countless hours in her garden in the summer, and in the winter she focuses her attention on her imaginary garden; the glass studio. Using scale and colour, the artist also finds inspiration in the extended landscape beyond the garden. Nature influences and shapes our behaviour and how we function within it. These concepts inform her practice. 

Rankin has won numerous awards and acknowledges the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. Her work has been published in ‘Studio Glass, Anna & Joe Mendel Collection’, The Montreal Museum of Fine arts, ‘Susan Rankin: valid objects of beauty’, Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery, Cinzia Corella, ‘Contemporary Canadian Glass’, Winter 2007, Sally McCubbin, ‘World Art Glass Quarterly’, Volume 2 2007, Jill Culora, ‘Contemporary Canadian Glass,’ Spring 2007, Cinzia Corella, ‘500 Glass Objects’, Lark Books 2006, ‘Glass Art : International 2003’, Richard Yelle 2003, ‘Sheridan The Cutting Edge in Crafts’, James Strecker '99, ‘New Glass Review’, USA '91, '96, '97 & 2004, and ‘A Treasury of Canadian Craft’, Canada and Japan '92. 

Rankin’s work has been shown in solo exhibitions and group exhibitions across North America for over 30 years. Rankin has work included in public collections at the Corning Museum, Claridge Collection, Michel-Pierre Grenier Collection, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Winnipeg Art Gallery, USB Bank (Canada), Department of Foreign Affairs, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Glazen Huis, Flemish Centre for Contemporary Glass Art, Lommel, Belgium, as well as in many private collections.