Susannah Connolly
Contemplative Creative Explorer – artist – Spiritual Companion- retreat facilitator.
Susannah Connolly is a 64 year-old ‘creative explorer’, she will be exhibiting in October’s Christian Arts Festival. Susannah has been doodling all of her life, painting with acrylics and a little sculpture. In the past 3 years, she has begun a process she refers to as ‘intentional doodling’, where she starts a picture and sees what emerges.
Many of her doodles include musical instruments, and other secret surprises, they invite you to look deeply and see the magic, the mysterious and let the drawing resonate, and read you, let it speak to you as you engage deeply with the work.
She loves native bush and includes the sounds she hears in nature, encouraging us to listen to the ‘music of the trees and the birds, and the insects’.
Whilst doodling, she can try ‘crazy things’ and it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work out. Often mistakes become beauty, like her drawings with a girl and a bucket with a hole in it – where it leaks is where the flowers grow.
Susannah, along with husband Andrew, run ‘Peacemakers’, an ‘intentional community’ with a busy 16 bed retreat centre on Fordyce Road in Parakai. She hopes to run artistic days on the property. For more info email susannah.connolly@gmail.com
She began working in pencil as she didn’t want to get her paints out in the evenings, or waste her one precious life watching TV too often. Finding that the images weren’t sharp enough, she began working in pen and ink.
Several of her works will be exhibited as part of the Christian Arts Festival, part of ARTS in the VILLE over Labour Weekend and held at ‘The Lighthouse’ part of Magnify Church, 118 Commercial Road.
If you are a Christian artist interested in exhibiting, then please email Pauline paulinekiwidenton@gmail.com for a registration form and bring your work to ‘The Lighthouse’ on Tuesday, 22nd October between 4.30 and 6.30pm. $5 exhibitor fee for one item, $3 each for two or more.
Come along to our opening event on Friday 25th at 6pm at Magnify Church. There will be an ‘Open Mic’ poetry performance as part of the opening.
