SUSAN COOLEN / VISUAL ARTIST
  • SELECTED WORKS
  • ABOUT
  • CV
  • NEWS
  • PAST WORKS
  • CONTACT
  • images_time capsule LIBRARY


SOLO EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS / EXPOSITIONS & PROJETS INDIVIDUELLES 
2022+  New project in-progress: (an incomplete) LIBRARY (of artist's books) for the FUTURE 
2021+  (an incomplete) MUSEUM (of ART) for the FUTURE, ongoing self-directed ‘time-capsule’ project
​            and 20+ 
book series [ongoing]
2019+  
PUDDLE/PUDDLES/POOL, ongoing self-directed environment interventions, studio work, audio-
            spoken text, 
& 150+ book series [ongoing]
2018    ‘A Companion Library’, (an incomplete) MUSEUM (of categories) for the FUTURE, [funded 3-book
            set 
produced for 3 public library collections, 14 additional books developed for the series]
2017    Parlance [selected works], DTK/BIA space, Kitchener, Canada 
2016    Artist-in-Residence project: ‘A Companion Library’ for (an incomplete) MUSEUM (of categories) for
            the FUTURE
] 
2016    Terre Océane, [exhibiting during this 2016 Artist-in-Residence program], Ayr Public Library, Ayr,
            Canada 

2015    (an incomplete) MUSEUM (of categories) for the FUTURE]: self-directed ‘time-capsule’ project
            presented on Twitter site

2015    GROOVY: installation & projections, NIGHT/SHIFT 2015, DFB, Kitchener, Canada
2014    Neon/Wood [Nature Alert], installation 1, NIGHT/SHIFT 2014, DFB, Kitchener, Canada 
2013    The LITTER-ARTI Project, 2013 Artist-in Residence for the City of Kitchener, Canada – City Hall
            galleries,
 ‘pop-up’ public installations, video-animation projections on City Hall’s exterior CUBE,  
            display booklets & a set 
of 50 graphic artist-books. 
2009   The Language of Nature, Côte St. Luc Library, Montréal, Canada
2009   Grand Shadows, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Canada (May-July 2009)
2008   The Language of Nature / La langage de la nature, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada
2007   Terre Océane, PDT Space, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Canada
2006    Astral Projections / Celestial Travellers, DeLeon White Gallery, Toronto, Canada            
2002    Le Spectacle de la Nature: A Collector’s Compendium, Harbourfront Center: Photo Passage,
            Toronto, Canada

2001    Lunetic: Be the First Woman on the Moon, The Floating Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada
1998    Birds, Bones & Feathers, Lallak + Tom Gallery, Chicago, USA
1997    De Profundis, Arts Place, Annapolis Royal, Canada
1997    Telling Stories, Modern Fuel Gallery, Kingston, Canada
1997    Re-Viewing the Nude / Refusing the View, Galerie Séquence, Chicoutimi, Canada

GROUP EXHIBITIONS / EXPOSITIONS COLLECTIVES 
2021   Articulating Legibility: Works from the Permanent Collection, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery,
           Kitchener, Canada

2019   THE LIFT series, Robert Langlen Art Gallery’s Library Spaces, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo,
            Canada

2017    Night\Shift 2017: ‘P.U.D.D.L.E.S’ [site-specific installations], Kitchener, Canada 
2017    Photopolis: ‘Arrangements’ [Susan Coolen + Dean Brousseau + Renate Deppe], Secord Gallery,
            Halifax, Canada 

2017    Art That Moves You, Grand River Transit [‘art on buses’ program], Region of Waterloo, Canada
2015    Neon/Wood [Nature Alert], installation 2, Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts, Toronto Island, Canada
2014    The LITTER-ARTI Project [video-animation projections], The CUBE (Kitchener City Hall), Kitchener,
            Canada

2012    Collecting Resonance, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Canada
2012    Dee and Deeper, Llangollen Public Library, Wales
2008    Cadavre Exquis, ODD Gallery, Dawson City, Canada
2007   *Re-Collect*, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Canada
2006    TRASH – Edward Burtynsky + Susan Coolen, David Mirvish Books, Toronto, Canada
2006    Astres/Stars/Goleuadau & Astral Projections, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto + Galerie Espace, 
            
Montréal, Canada
2005    Cadvre Exquis and Tout près / So close, Maison de la Culture - Le Plateau, Montréal, Canada
2005    Memento Memoriae, VMAC Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2005    Tout près / So close - Trafic Inter/nationale d’art actuel , Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Canada
2004    Beyond Science, Metrònom, Barcelona, Spain 
2004    CAFKA’04:Peace of Mind – Primordia, Kitchener, Canada    
2004    Petite Enveloppe Urbain #11:La science-fiction comme commentaire social, SPACE Gallery,
            Pittsburgh, USA 
and at  SKOL, Montréal, Canada
2004    Curiouser, ‘new’ Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2003    Sphere, Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver, Canada
2003    In the Light of: Six Contemporary Artists Explore the Legacy of William Henry Fox Talbot,
            Kitchener-Waterloo 
Art Gallery, Kitchener, Canada
2003    Shifting Sites, Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Canada (produced by Canadian Museum of 
            Contemporary Photography / le Musée canadien de la photographie contemporaine, Ottawa,
            Canada)

2002    Shifting Sites, MSVU Art Gallery, Halifax and MOCCA, Toronto, Canada 
2002    Invitation au voyage, Maison de la Culture_Frontenac, Montréal, Canada
2001    Tour de Villeneuve : interventions photographiques in situ / Villeneuve Tour : Site Specific
             Photographic Interventions

2001    (Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal), Fovea collectif de photographes, Montréal, Canada
2001     Lux Nova - Contact 2001, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Canada
2001     Shifting Sites, Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse, Canada; Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George,
             Canada    

2000     Encuentros con la Imagen, Asociación para la Difusión de la Fotografía, Tenerife, Spain 
2000     Mouvance et mutation/Shifting Sites, Musée canadien de la photographie contemporaine/CMCP.
             Ottawa. Canada 

2000     Photography Invitational, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, U.S.A. 
1999     Histoires naturelles, Maison de la culture Plateau Mont-Royal, and Cosmogonie, Galerie VOX,
             Montréal, Canada    

1998     Ubiquités, Galerie VOX, Montréal, Canada and Small Works, Three Arts Club, Chicago, U.S.A.
1997     The Altered & Planned Photograph, Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, U.S.A.
1996     Vital Signs, Galerie de la Ville. D.D.O., Montréal, Canada 
1995     Fictions (Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal), Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay, Montréal, Canada
1994     Jeune photographie, Dazibao, centre de photographies actuelles, Montréal, Canada
1993     Focal Points, Galerie VAV / VAV Gallery, Montréal, Canada 
1991     One Year, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, Canada  
    
SPECIAL PROJECTS / PROJETS SPÉCIAUX 
2020   ‘(an incomplete) Museum (of Art) for the Future’, time-capsule project & book series [document],  
            Kitchener-Waterloo,
Canada
2018    A Companion Library ‘of Collections’ for ‘(an incomplete) Museum (of categories) for the Future, 
            Kitchener-Waterloo,
Canada
2016    (an incomplete) MUSEUM (of categories) for the FUTURE, extended intervention project, twitter 
            feed, and book series.

2015    The Litter-Arti Library, 50 book artist series + companion books, [for 4 public access collections], 
            Kitchener-Waterloo, 
Canada
2008    Parochial Views No. 6 (commission series), Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Canada
2007    Astres/Stars/Goleuadau, Le Point Ephemere - International Festival of Digital Poetry, Paris, France
2006    Astres/Stars/Goleuadau, Expanding the Space: Conference on Space and Art Octubre Centre de
            Cultura
Contemporania, Valencia, Spain

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS / COLLECTIONS D’ART (AND / ET SPECIAL COLLECTIONS / COLLECTIONS SPÉCIAUX)
2017  The Paula Claire Archive of Visual Poetry, Oxford, England (‘Dee and Deeper’, 2012)
2016   Ayr Library, Ayr, Waterloo Region, Canada (‘A Companion Library’ for ‘(an incomplete) Museum
           (of categories)
for the Future)’ 
2014   City of Kitchener, Forest Heights Community Centre, Kitchener Public Library, Waterloo Waste
           Management 
Educational Centre (‘A Litter-Arti Library’ and ‘Companion’ artist book publications] 
2014   Forest Heights Community Centre, Kitchener, Canada 
2009   Hydro-Québec, Montréal, Québec, 
2008   Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Canada
2004   CCA, Montréal, Canada & New York City / Toronto (CRUM:Petite Enveloppe Urbain No.11: ‘Science  
           Fiction as 
Social Commentary’).

PUBLIC SPEAKING / CONFERENCES PUBLIQUES
‘A.I.R. Info session’ artist presentations (City of Kitchener/Arts+Culture, Kitchener, Canada, 2018)
‘A.I.R. Artist’s Talk’ (Ayr Public Library, Ayr, Canada 2016)
‘Grand Shadows’ artist talk (Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Canada, 2009)
‘The Language of Nature / La langage de la nature’ artist talk (Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada, 2008)
‘What is Natural Space’ : Roundtable discussion (ARTIVISTIC: Galerie Oboro, Montréal, Canada, 2007)
Visiting Artists’ Talk (SPACE Gallery, Pittsburgh, USA, 2004)
Visiting Artist Talk (Concordia University, Dept. of Photography, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 2003 & 2004)
‘Sphere’: Panel Discussion (Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver, Canada 2003) 
‘Le Spectacle de la Nature’: Artist talk (Humber College & Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Canada 2002)

PUBLICATIONS / PUBLICATIONS
Periodicals / Périodiques
“Kitchener artist uses found items to tap into viewer’s imaginations”, Kitchener Citizen (2019)
“D’Amato: Art from dead animals is where fascination and repulsion meet”, Kitchener-Waterloo Record (2016)
“Bringing art and people together”, Kitchener-Waterloo Record (2014)
“Artist’s harvest of trash is playfully inspiring”, Kitchener-Waterloo Record (2013)
“Kitchener’s Artist-in-residence repurposes our trash”, Kitchener-Waterloo Record (2013) 
“Trash Talking”, Kitchener-Waterloo Record (2012)
“An Interview with Susan Coolen about her sci fi creatures and alien progeny”, Locus Suspectus Magazine, (2007)
“Nature mortes. En puissant dans sa collection de pierres, de plantes et d’ossements, la photographe     
«Susan Coolen crée des ouvres << archeologiques>>», Québec Science Magazine, (2005)    
“Temporada de Setas / Season of Mushrooms”, Critic-Barcelona, (2005)
"Science as Art / Art as Science: Photographic Taxonomy", Scrivener Creative Review, No.28 (2004)
"Space: The Next Frontier", Pittsburgh-Post Gazette (2004)
"Exhibit explores brain-work behind sphere", The Vancouver Sun (2003)
"SPHERE", The PGH News (2003)
“SPHERE”. Art Papers, Volume 28 (2003)
"Shifting Sites: The Artist as Subversive", Visual Arts Nova Scotia (2003)
“Shifting Sites”. The Ottawa Xpress (2002)
"Big Crunch", Photo Vision, No. 30 (2001)
"Photography Museum Presents Canada's Best", National Post (2000)
« Donner une nouvelle vie aux objets trouvés ici et là », L'Express du Plateau, (1999)
« Déplacements de sens », Le Devoir, (1998)
"Susan Coolen", New Art Examiner (1998)
"Piece Work", Chicago Reader (1998)

Catalogues and monographs / Catalogues et monographies + Books / Ouvrages
N+1 Magazine No. 13 (New York: Winter 2012)
River Grand Chronicles: Six/Seven/Eight (Kitchener: Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, 2010)
Klara Hobza, The New Millenium Paper Airplane Book (Public Art Fund, New York, 2009)
10 Ans / 10 Years (Agence Topos, Montréal 2008)
Peace of Mind (Kitchener: Cafka’04, 2007)
Trash (Toronto: Alphabet City Media & MIT Press, 2006)
Mementos / 6” x 6”  Book Series  (Chicago: Columbia College, 2006)
Carte Blanche (Toronto: Magenta Publishing for the Arts, 2006)    
In the Light of: Six Contemporary Artists… (Kitchener: Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, 2004)
Sphere (Carlevaris, Anna, Susan Coolen’s Universe (North Vancouver: Presentation House Gallery, 2004)
Cousineau-Levine, Penny, Faking Death:Canadian Art Photography & the Canadian Imagination (Montréal:McGill Queen's Univ.Press, 2003)
Danis, Daniel, Terre océane, (Montréal, Dazibao, centre de photographies actuelles, 2003)
Jeffries, Bill, Sphere (North Vancouver: Presentation House Gallery, 2003)
Invitation au voyage, (Montréal, Ville de Montréal, 2002)
Kunard, Andrea, Mouvance et mutation/Shifting Sites, (Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, 2001)
Le mois de la photo à Montréal:The Power of the Image, (Montréal:VOX, centre de diffusion de la photographie, 2001)
Villeneuve Tour : Site Specific Photographic Interventions, (Montréal: Fovea collectif de photographes, 2001)

ONLINE MEDIA, TV, RADIO INTERVIEWS / ENTREVUES WEB, RADIO-TELE & LES MÉDIAS
AIR25 - 25th Anniversary of the Artist in Residence program celebration, City of Kitchener, Canada; artist interview series produced by Bonn Park Podcast (2022)
‘Night\Shift artist chat: Susan Coolen \\ P.U.D.D.L.E.S.’ (2017)
‘Susan Coolen – Scavenger Aesthetics’, COMP Magazine, St. Francis University, Joliet USA (2015) 
‘Green Scene’, 6-part TV eco-documentary series [includes Litter-Arti project], Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada (2016, 2015, 2014)
‘50 ways to Leave Your Litter: Interview with artist-in-residence Susan Coolen’, CBC Radio Kitchener-Waterloo (2013)
“Does Litter Art Send the Right Message?”, Litter Prevention Program blog (2013)
“Not so trashy artist: Susan Coolen”, Red Leather Booth blog (2013)
“Kitchener artist picks up what others throw away”(article and TV news VIDEO feature), CTV Kitchener, (2013)
[3] ‘Interviews with Susan Coolen, City of Kitchener’s, 2013 Artist-in residence’, Roger’s Daytime TV-Kitchener (2013)
‘Interview with Susan Coolen on her Canadian Museum of Nature exhibit ‘The Language of Nature’, Roger’s TV, Ottawa (2008)
‘Interview with artist Susan Coolen at her Canadian Museum of Nature exhibit ‘The Language of Nature’, CBC Radio, Ottawa (2008)

COMITTEES / COMITÉS
Waterloo Regional Tourism Marketing Corporation, Public Art Selection Jury, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario (2020) 
dtk BIA, Public Art Selection Jury, Kitchener, Ontario (2019)
P.A.W.G. [
Public Art Working Group], City of Kitchener, (2013 thru 2018 Member) (2017 thru 2018 Chair)
Region of Waterloo: ION Transit Stations, Public Art Selection Jury, Region of Waterloo (2016)

GRANTS / BOURSES
Region of Waterloo Arts Grant (Project Grant for ‘A Book …of Collections’ books [14] for 2 designated public libraries, 2019)
Region of Waterloo Arts Grant (Project Grant for ‘A Book … of Collections’ books [3] for 2 public libraries, 2017) 
Region of Waterloo Arts Grant (Project Grant for ‘A Litter-Arti Library’ books for 4 public collections & libraries, 2014) 
The Canada Council for the Arts (Travel Grant, International, 2012)
The Canada Council for the Arts (Professional Development Grant, 2009)
The Canada Council for the Arts (Exhibition Grant, 2007)
Conseil des arts et des letters du Québec (Travel Grant, International, 2004)    
Conseil des arts et des letters du Québec (Project Development Grants: 2000, 2002 & 2003)
The Canada Council for the Arts (Travel Grant, 2001)
The Canada Council for the Arts (Project Development Grant, 1999 and Travel Grant, 1999)    
The Stuart B. Baum Project Completion Grant (Chicago: Columbia College, 1997, 1998)
Conseil des arts et des letters du Québec (Travel Grant, International, 1997)    
The Albert P. Wiseman Fund (Chicago: Project Development Grant, 1997, 1998)
The Follett Fellowship (Columbia College Chicago, 1996-1997, 1998)
FCAR Graduate Studies Bursary Award (Québec, 1996-1997)
Conseil des arts et des letters du Québec (Project Development Grant, 1995)

EDUCATION / L'ÉDUCATION 
1999     MFA in Photography, Columbia College, Chicago, USA
1995    Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography (with distinction), Concordia University, Montréal, Canada
1977    Bachelor of Design in Communication Design, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Canada

  • SELECTED WORKS
  • ABOUT
  • CV
  • NEWS
  • PAST WORKS
  • CONTACT
  • images_time capsule LIBRARY