An exhibition in Gallery I, May 31 – July 4, 2025

Artist Reception: Saturday May 31, 2pm-4pm

From May 31 to July 4, Sivarulrasa Gallery is delighted to present Susan Tooke: Hooked in Gallery I. The exhibition brings together Nova Scotia-based artist Susan Tooke‘s paintings and fibre art inspired by the East Coast wilderness. “Inspired by wilderness and motivated by the continued degradation of the environment, my work is focused on the celebration of the natural world”, she says. Based near Port Royal in the Annapolis Valley, her hooked rugs build on the long tradition of rug hooking in Nova Scotia, using her grandmother’s rug hooking tools. The imagery in these works of fibre art is a further abstraction of shapes and patterns found in her landscape paintings. The title of the show Hooked references both the hooked rugs and the artist’s deep attachment to natural spaces.

Susan Tooke has received several awards, including the Established Artist Recognition Award in 2015 from the Province of Nova Scotia. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in Canada and the United States. A celebrated illustrator, her artwork for children’s literature has resulted in multiple awards, including four Lillian Shepherd Memorial Awards for Excellence in Illustration. An active advocate for artists’ social and economic rights, she has served as National President of Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC). Susan received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia with further studies in the Master’s of Media Arts program at the New School in New York City.

Artist Reception: Saturday May 31, 2pm-4pm. Artist Susan Tooke will be in attendance.

Contact the Gallery: Call us at 613-256-8033 or email info@sivarulrasa.com for queries about the works below, or visit our Virtual Gallery.