Suzanne Tevlin is a well known artist and lecturer
in Toronto. Author of “The Conspiracy of Silence; Gericault’s ‘Raft of
the Medusa’ and the Abolitionist Movement” and “The Invisible Woman:
Searching for The Black Female in Western Art,” she was, recently, the
only Canadian artist to be invited to take part in the exhibition “GOLD”
at the Musée Belvedere in Vienna.
As an international lecturer and artist she spent 12 years in Europe
where she lectured at Le Musée Ephrussi de Rothschild and La Villa
Kerylos in France. While in France she founded “The Tevlin Perspective:
Art History from the Artist’s Point of View”. Suzanne has lectured in
major museums in Europe and North America, as well as the University of
Toronto, University of St Michael’s College, OCAD, TPL, Parsons-Paris,
Ghost Ranch, WAAC, Campbell House, Arts & Letters, and HotDocs/Curious Minds.
Suzanne Tevlin has been associated with a Paris gallery for over 30
years, and has had numerous exhibitions in Paris, Monaco, along the Cote
d’Azur and in London, as well as in Canada. She is represented in
collections throughout Europe and North America.
My studio is in the Annex, in downtown Toronto.
Please feel free to e-mail me suzannetevlin1@gmail.com with suggestions
(all my art history courses are combination lecture/tutorials with 3/7 participants)
@My Studio one can always count on a first rate projected image in a well darkened room
for all Suzanne's courses click this link ☛☛☛
If you would like to receive my newsletter please send me an e-mail (suzannetevlin1@gmail.com) with Newsletter Request as the subject.
May17, 2023
NEW PAINTING!!! HURRAH!
oil on canvas, 40" X 30" X 2"
February 7, 2023
Dear Art Friends,
I'VE JUST UPDATED MY
LECTURE DATES & PRICES.
SEE YOU SOON!!!
October 15, 2022
Dear Art Friends,
My
Annual Open House and Studio Sale
will take place Sunday afternoons in November & December,
I'll post more details soon;
Details of my first two in-house lecture series are
now posted in the
2022 Lecture Schedule page.
Picasso in 6 Weeks will be starting
November 8 and continuing until December 13,
Six Female Artists That Changed My Life,
will be starting January 10 running
for 6 weeks;
I'll also be emailing my first real
Tevlin Talks Art News Letter in 3 years.
So,
watch for it. It will have all the gos,
as well as the trials and
tribulation of my pandemic,
and the resultant painting series'.
Make sure
I have your email address -
remember I lost all my contact info in
January during
the 2 storms, punitive sub-zerro weather and the pandemic.
In
the mean time let's all declare that we have been,
like my beautiful
triptych. "Too Long In The Desert"
Now I'm off to see the Opera Atelier
special performance of
Dido and Aeneas at the COC.
TTFN
Don't forget I have a new email, and telephone.
May 23, 2022
Dear Art Friends
Well,
here we are at last. The eighth, and final work in the “Topics of Cancer” series
will be called “Agatha c. 2022” Not quite finished boys an girls. Soon.
Agatha,
like most modern women, has given up the idea of virgin martyrdom, and has
chosen a more inclusive life for herself. Looking an awful lot like me during
my recent medical procession, Agatha appears to have been set afloat on an
arctic ice floe, but fear not, this is merely a painterly illusion.
She has,
however, drawn an amusing line between the massively intimidating Linear Accelerator,
found in the radiation treatment unit, and the Ancient Egyptian sun god, Ra.
This idea will amuse her for a few days whilst she ponders the planning CTs
used to programme the same machine for her radiation treatments.
The
image just under her hand is of my own chest, taken about 4cm below my nipple,
facing from my waist up towards my head. The area around my incision is circled
in red, and the track of the machine is in yellow. A second image is the last
image in the pile. It shows my right breast. Again, the incision is circled in
red, and the track of the accelerator is in yellow. I only actually saw the 1st
image, but it seems pretty basic, so I made up the 2nd. In the 1st
the orbit of the machine was a half circle left to right around my torso, and
in the 2nd it was from my head to my waist, my body having been
moved in between needless to say.
When
it stops at the waist and stares you in the face, the tendency is to close your
eyes, but what good would that do against radiation? If one meets the machine
eye to eye, you can observe the digital pattern of the radiation that has been
programmed. This changes shape, as well as colour, until it disappears. Very
interesting.
August 28, 2022
Dear Art Friends
The 1st of 2 Agatha paintings
that bring the "Topics of Cancer" series close to its close.
"Agatha c.251"
St Agatha is the patron saint of breast cancer patients.
Traditionally her martyrdom involves the removal of her breast.
I don't think it's necessary to be so gruesome, though
burning isn't a very pleasant option.
Her breasts, after being removed, healed themselves,
so she was burnt.
I've always found the traditional images extremely disturbing.
I hope this one isn't too upsetting.
May 8, 2022
Dear
Art Friends,
Well,
my radiation therapy is over, and now I await the burning. My breast started
letting me know it was not happy with this radiation business on the 1st
day of the schedule. There was burning, and throbbing, though entirely bareable.
That’s what comes of my DNA having lived in the fog, and mist, of the west
coast of Ireland, and France, for several hundred, if not thousand years.
Thankfully the doses were limited, so I fear not, neither do I weep….yet. After
all it’s my own damned fault, being so fair, and well, just being, I guess. Ever the optomist, I anticipate only good things; still, I don’t want to be without a
supply of extra strength Ibuprofen for the next few weeks. Apparently the
radiation pain starts about now, and will grow for 2 weeks, and then diminish.
Everyone tells you this, having first turned their backs to you, or diverting
their eyes. As the new arrival to Hell once said, “How bad can it get?” I’ll
let you know, but do know that I am as prepared as I can be – Celtic skin and
all.
In
this painting, the 6th of the surgery group, to be called “My Aurora
Borealis”, I am relating the wondrous Northern Lights to the lights, lasers
and radiation beam of this treatment. I have my favourite 4 legged wild one,
the Canadian moose, by my side. We are ready to float through a starry Ontario
night. The lights on my chest are used to arrange my body to suite the static/rotating
position of the radiation beam. So, no, I’m not a new member of some weird
cult. The red light is a ruler, and the green lights come from static fixtures
in the walls of the room. I am the only thing that is moved about. It takes 2
people to work the regulators that allow the movement, because they are several
feet away from each other. Quite cool really.
I’ll
be doing 2 more for this series, I think. St Agatha, or Ste Agathe, is the
patron saint of breast cancer patients. We see a lot of Ste Agathas in
Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque art. There’s also a Sainte Agathe-des-Monts,
in the Laurentians, in Quebec, where my grandmother used to spend the odd
summer in her youth. The current plan is to do a martyrdom of Ste Agathe c. 251
(the year she died, apparently), and one more modern image c. 2022. Perhaps. We
shall see. Hmmmm…
When
the paintings are done the finished product will be posted on my website as
well as Saatchi. Though, if you arrange the pick up yourself, my studio prices
are about half that of Saatchi.
May 15, 2022
Dear
Art Friends,
This
is the 5th painting in my surgery series. It may be called
“Connecting The Dots: Bear With Me”.
I've just added the eclipse of May's Blood Moon, whiich will take place tonight, along with the alignment of the 4 planets, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn, from last week.
I
have been given 4 small tattoos, in preparation for my radiation therapy. My 1st
tattoos ever. My dermatologist always advised me never to tattoo my skin, as it
was too sensitive. But now I have four, or one, depending on one’s viewpoint.
They’re tiny, and I assume the ink didn’t contain any heavy metals.
I
suppose, with this painting, I’m trying to see the bigger picture. I’m filled
with misgivings at the moment. The post-operative regime seems more frightening
than the operation itself.
I won’t go
into my concerns; they were summarily dismissed.
Have
a lovely day. Spring will come.
April 22, 2022
Dear Art Friends,
Here is the 4th surgery painting.
"Does My Head Look Big?"
The melanoma painting.
Not done yet, but soon.
My trip to the plastic surgeon’s office to have my melanoma
excised was the 1st step on what has become a more than 6mos
journey. But, as I have said before, it’s nothing compared to what so many
people endure. I’m not just lucky, I’m creative, productive, and feeling
terrific. A little over a month after this event I received my breast cancer
diagnosis. The 1st 3 paintings are about that.
My
childhood memories of living in a home where cancer was king dwelt heavily upon
me that day, but my doctor was calm and considerate. The melanoma was very
tiny, but quite near my eye. A local anaesthetic was used, I didn’t feel a
thing. My main concern was keeping still, so I grabbed my arms in a pseudo hug,
and didn’t let go. It wasn’t long – less than half an hour.
I
think about my father a lot these days.
April
13, 2022
Dear
Art Friends,
The
3rd surgery painting is called,
“Channeling Faustina, and pondering
the harpoon action in
my breast, I contemplate The Milky Way.”
I’ll
explain a few things if you like.
The painting shows the ultra sound lead
needle biopsy used to
confirm that my little tumour was cancerous.
Faustina is
the name of Tintoretto’s wife, and possible model for
Venus in his wonderful
painting, “The Origin of The Milky Way”,
a reproduction of which is perched behind the
smaller ultra sound screen. I’m channeling her….get it??? My breast, via the
ultra sound screen, is therefore reproducing a digital Milky Way circa 2022,
and cardinals are a favourite winter song bird in my house. Hope you can all
get your proverbial heads around that.
Thank you, and have a nice day;-)))
July 4, 2022
Well, here is the 2nd surgery painting.
Not done yet, but I'm very pleased thus far.
It's my visit to the Nuclear Medicine Department to have 2 injections of vaguely radioactive liquid in my nipple (MY NIPPLE!!!!)
so that the exact position of my sentinel lymph node will be revealed,
and then a biopsy will show whether or not it is
cancerous. It wasn't.
It's called "Merci, Madame Curie".
April 16, 2022
Dear Art Friends,
Here is the 1st surgery painting. Not done yet. It will probably be called
"I Become The Canvas"
The series may be called "The Topics of Cancer"
Though I'll have to give that a think;-)))
It's 36"X18" X 2"
Oil on Canvas
March 27, 2022
Dear Art Friends,
My goodness, it's been a while.
I've
had my breast lumpectomy, & sentinel lymph node biopsy.
It went
very well, though my post-op check up isn't 'til this Wednesday.
I feel
great; very optimistic, & creative - as usual.
I've
been doing a few paintings about the 2 cancer diagnoses, but dealing
with cancer symbolically, I realised 2 days ago, isn't working for me.
"Superficial Concerns" is about my melanoma, & "Finding Ophelia" is,
I suppose, the feeling I had, when, a month later I recieved a
diagnosis of breast cancer. I was drowning!
Now I am working on a nude bust of someone who could be me, showing the
bandages. I haven't done a nude self portrait since my 20s!!!
Whilst
working on the bust, images of several other paintings arrived in my
head. So, The new series will be 4 full length "self" portraits of my various
"trials".
Don't kid yourself, the time I spent being tested, prepared and finally "done"
was the most interesting I've
ever spent not in an art museum, or studio.
Modern medicine is amazing.
WOW
The only down side was that I was the subject to be deconstructed.
So
far I have put paint to canvas on the actual O.R. painting.
The others
will be the melanoma excision,
the visit to Nuclear Medicine (ouch), and
the needle biopsy.
If my surgeon decides I need radiation, that will be
a 5th painting in the series.
I'll post these works as they become viewable.
I may delete this in a week or so, as I tend to do with such personal posts.
Here is
Finding Ophelia II
July 2, 2021
The girl is fully vaccinated!!!
And I don't seem to be even slightly magnetic;-)))
I am now happy to welcome vaccinated art lovers
to my studio to view the
work I've produced over the last 15 months.
"Messengers During A Time of Pestilence"
is something I am very proud to show my art friends.
You can also see my Pythia series, and my
Canada 150 series - The Wild & The Good.
Email me to arrange a viewing.
suzannetevlin1@gmail.com
January 31, 2022
Dear Art Friends,
I now have a new phone,
and a new email -
suzannetevlin1@gmail.com
My account on Bell has already
disappeared (after how many decades?)
I have lost all your emails,
so please resend if you please.
February 13, 2022
What a time I've had, the last
2-3 weeks.
The second snow storm in January,
caused me to lose my
landline and internet.
Bell couldn't be bothered to get me going again.
After several days of waiting for aid
I jumped ship
to Virgin.
My cancer diagnosis,
occurred in tandem with my Bell difficulties.
I am optimistic
and creative as hell....as usual.
Here, as a result, is a new painting.
The first of three I think, called
"Finding Ophelia".
It will be the
story of the afterlife of a drowned girl.
It's not gigantic - only 30" X
40" on a deep 2" canvas.
Oil of course. This one is close to done.
January 9, 2022
This new series is called "Superficial Concerns".
The first of the series is "Waiting" which you can see below.
"Rabbit Hole" is the second.
It's 36" X 36"
Happy New Year my friends.
December 7, 2021
The Tevlin Atelier
Presents
The Annual Small Gems Christmas Sale 2021
From the VERY small to the VERY large
More paintings than you can imagine.
1) Check out my website
2) Make an appointment
3) Let me know what you want to view
From 4" x 4" to 6ft x 5ft
oils, watercolour, encaustic, pastel, drawing, goldleaf,
mixed media, power tools, metal tooling, intaglio
December 8 to January 8
Prices from $30 to $15,000
December 20, 2021
Brand new work!!!
"Waiting"
Oil on canvas, 30" X 40"
September 29, 2021
Am I the only person in the
world who remembers
a children's radio programme that started, and ended
with a song called "The Bears Picnic"?
If you go down to the woods
today you'd better go in disguise.........
for every bear that ever there
was....
today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic....
I could go
on ;-))))
This painting, I discovered
this morning, takes place
at the confluence of the picnic, our hot
forest fire summer, and the transformation of the regular bear into the
Spirit Bear.
Life needs humour and pleasure to go along with the
hardship and sadness that we must endure, so it's now called:
"Spirit Bear's Sooty Summer:Picnic's over-Tranformation"
April 23, 2021
Dear Art Friends
In an ecstatic fit of optimism I'm planning a
New Normal Lecture Series
to commence the 1st week of
October, through November.
The subject will be
"Art of Change: The Tumultuous & Invigorating 19th
Century"
The most important & exciting period of artistic exploration,
scientific discovery, & political change in Western history.
I'll post a full description on my lecture schedule page.
The enrollement will be very small, possibly no more than 10,
depending on the regulations at the time.
Those taking part will be required to be 100% Vaccinated.
There are a few venues near Spadina & Bloor that will suit.
E-mail me to get on the very special list.
February 23, 2021
I've been watching the Mary Beard Gifford Lectures from the University of Edinburgh. She presented them in 2019. By far the most interesting for me (there are 6) is this one about Lucretia's rape and suicide - an important subject in Renaissance art as we all know. Prof Beard discusses the subject as a classicist. The references to the Roman Body Politic are fascinating. FYI - The others are worth the time as well.
February 1, 2021
"Great Bear Sky"
from my
"Messengers During A Time of Pestilence",
is virtually finished. Maybe a bit more red fur and white froth.
I am very excited. This one was tough.
It is 6ft X 5ft, oil on canvas.
February 1, 2021
Notre Dame Burning: Pythia & The Great Red Dragon
oil on canvas
6ft X 4ft
is almost done.
I'll keep you posted.
October 29, 2020
Just finishing "Breakfast with Lucian" and all I can think is
"What an ass", "What a hideously selfcentred narcissist".
"Too bad he was such a brilliant painter - the jerk!"
September 6, 2020
Happy Labour Day to all my friends.
So, not a lot more to do on the first painting in the
"Messengers during a time
of pestilence" series - Moose Man Spirit.
Also
The Baroque Soloist Summer Intensive is done and dusted.
And I'm still singing.
Didn't I tell you I was a survivor ;-)))
Enjoy the long weekend
friends.
July 20
I've been working on the central section of Moose Man
during the last month or so, but I must admit,
those two weeks of heatwave slowed me right down.
Gosh, wasn't it a scorcher?
Musically - Just starting to work on a new
trio of sublime songs. The 1st is by Mahler, and is called, in
English, "I am lost to the world". The 2nd is a Schubert, "Nur wer die
sehnsucht kennt". The 3rd is by Copeland, and is called "Heart, we will
forget him". The 3 together are simply out of this world. I practise
them every morning in the park, so I can really let loose.
March 28, 2020
Hope everyone is doing as well as possible.
I am getting lots of work done. Thank heaven for small mercies.
I'm trying not to let this difficult time go to waste.
Stay healthy my friends.
It would seem that Pythia has decided
to arrive on Innaarsuit Island, Greenland
as the skateboard queen.
Just sayin'
I'll keep you posted....
July 25, 2019
Well, today is really going to be a good day.
My just about finished Pythia Series has been featured in
Canadian Art Junkie
Please have a look.
Well, "Pythia & The Christmas Eve Baby" is done.
It is inspired by the Christmas Eve, 2017, birth of baby white rhino,
Theodore, at the Toronto zoo, and the adventures of Clara the rhino,
born in 1738 in India and painted by Pietro Longhi. Miss Pythia meets
the mother rhino and baby Theodore at a Venetian Ball.
It is 48" X 60" X 2" oil on canvas..
Click below to see what a big boy Theodore is now!!!!!
Theodore is now one year old!!!
December 7, 2018
"Pythia in Paris as The Seine Breaches Its Banks"
oil on canvas
5ft X 5ft
Working on the text engraved on the bridge, which BTW,
is from a Pablo Neruda poem.
Figuring out Pandora and her "chaos in a box" difficulties.
Added some scarlet tanagers leading the rowboat.
My mother's favorite birds, also BTW.
June 13, 2018
Pythia was the designated name taken by each Oracle of Delphi upon her investiture.
"Miss Pythia at her Annointing"
48" X 36" X 2"
oil on canvas
December 23, 2017
Yesterday "Bears Picnic" was installed in its new home.
And, yes, that's my "Yellow Road: Faraway" up beside it on the left.
September 18, In The Works
After a short hiatus painting drowning maidens, exotic flowers and deadly frogs, I'm back to my "Canada 150 Series", with this almost done painting of a herd of musk ox. Did you know that musk ox wool is the finest, warmest and most expensive wool in the world? Probably the most rare as well.
"A Musk Ox Dilemma: What Time is it Mister Wolf?"
oil on birch cradle, 37" X 48"
I love a surprise!
Just got home and found that I had been featured, once again,
by J. Walters, in her terrific
Canadian Art Junkie
Blog.
Please check it out.
My Work Featured in The Guardian !!!
The London Guardian Exhibition & Media Exposure:
Here's a lovely digital assemblage of the Kings Place Guardian Exhibition now open in London England. Scroll down to see my Large Bowl of Fruit I .
The London Kings Place Exhibition ran from September 14 to October 9. Kings Place is a new art complex beside King's Cross Train Station in London. The exhibition was presented by London's world famous Guardian newspaper. The curator was Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones aided by Hayward Gallery curator Gilly Fox. My oversized fruit bowl was included. Four feet of melon, pears and grapes....
I forgot to post this Guardian feature of a painting from my Yellow Road Series. It's called Listen, Snow Flakes Falling.
Here's the full image...
Here's another Guardian featured drawing, from the same Large Bowl of Fruit Series as the one in the London show...Large Bowl of Fruit with Crow & Murmuration
Now do you understand why I love the Guardian...?
Would you like to see how my Big Landscape: Ghost Ranch series is progressing? I've just finished #7.
Since my return
from France I have lectured at:
University of St
Michael’s College - Continuing Education
University of
Toronto - School of Continuing Studies
University of
Toronto - Canadian Perspectives Lecture Series
Woodsworth College,
U of T – Alumni GM
George Brown
College Treasures of The World Series - Art: Reflections
on Society
Humber College
Seneca College
Hot Docs Toronto
Campbell House Museum
The Arts &
Letters Club
OCAD Continuing
Studies
Toronto Public Library
(Deer Park, Gladstone, Runnymede, Don Mills, Eatonville..)
Toronto Reference
Library
Parsons Paris
Ephrussi Rothschild
Museum, St Jean-Cap-Ferrat
Villa Kerylos, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France
Ghost Ranch,
Abiquiu, New Mexico
Women's Art Association of Canada
I was delighted to be part of the March Break program at Georgia O'Keeffe's old ranch in New Mexico this year.
Ghost Ranch AIR (Artist Immersion & Rejuvenation)
I'm foolishly excited to see my studio featured in Hyperallergic
My Studio - featured in Hyperallergic - January 10, 2014
This is an article about my work that I forgot to post
An Article About My Work
Tevlin Talks Art T-Shirts
To order your Tevlin Talks Art T-shirt just send me an e-mail.
Available in medium or large, they cost $40 each.
They are very, very nice.....as elegant as a T-shirt can be
July 18
ART CARDS:
All cards are 5" X 7", have a pristine interior - you add the greeting - and come with a white envelope. To order, just e-mail me.
The "Crow Iconica" series of 5 cards.
The cost for each "Crow Iconica" package of 5 cards is $25.00 + postage.
 |
| Crow Iconica, variety pack of 5, $25.00 |
The
"Large Bowl of Fruit (with crows)" series of 4 cards.
The cost for a "Large Bowl of Fruit (with crows)" pack of 4 art cards is $20.00 + postage.
 |
| Large Bowl of Fruit (with crows), variety pack of 4, $20.00 |
"The Darwin Series" contains 5 cards.
The cost for each "Darwin Series" package of 5 cards is $25.00 + postage.
"The Weather Series" contains 4 cards.
The cost for each "Weather Series" pack of 4 art cards is $20.00 + postage
"
