In a downtown Toronto studio, where light streams through high windows and illuminates layers of clay in various stages of completion, Susan Collett can be found working intuitively with wires, porcelain, or earthenware paper clay. Now in her 31st year of full-time studio practice, Collett continues to push boundaries as a multi-disciplinary artist. She shifts seamlessly between printing on her press, constructing clay structures, and painting glazes, each action revealing the delicate interplay between strength and fragility. Her work teeters on the edge of collapse while maintaining an inherent stability, and her studio practice is a daily exercise in controlled chaos.
Since graduating from the Cleveland Institute of Art, where she studied both printmaking and ceramics, Collett’s career has been defined by dualities. Her work embodies the principle of discovery, embracing the unpredictability of ceramics. Through cycles of building, re-firing, dismantling, and reshaping, she creates intricate webs of porcelain and wire.
Her recent Racine and Laden series highlights this philosophy, presenting large-scale sculptures that convey an airy yet solid presence, with layers of clay twisted and bent into voluminous, complex forms. Her Beacon series of porcelain vessels features paper-thin, striated layers that hold only air and light—gestures inspired by her background in dance.
Reflecting on her series, Collett describes them as “disrupted, uprooted forms,” an apt summary of her oeuvre. In her studio, Collett remains committed to this journey—building, dismantling, and reinventing—continuously finding the unexpected in chaos and the profound beauty of being in the moment.
Collections include The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada House, Trafalgar Square, UK. The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, Sevres Porcelain Museum, Paris, The Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum, India, Arizona State University Museums, USA., The Burlington Art Gallery, & The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery.The Canadiana Collection of the Official Residencies of Ottawa, Rideau Hall, holds the sculpture Filigree and it was placed in the private office of the Governor General of Canada.
Exhibitions include The Korean Biennale 2024, ICAF, International Ceramic Art Fair, Gardiner Museum 2023, ESSENCE, The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, 2023, PAPER CLAY ILLUMINATED, USA touring, 2020-21, curated by Peter Held, The Keramion Museum 2019, solo Sandra Ainsley Gallery 2017, The Toronto International Art Fair 2013-2016, Korean Biennale 2012,2015, Taiwan Biennale 2012, with group exhibitions at SOFA Chicago, New York, Palm Beach, and the Toronto International Art Fair.
She was awarded membership into the International Academy of Ceramics in 2007 and the RCA, Royal Canadian Academy of Art in 2008.
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