Faculty of Art
Drawing and Painting
Meet the Artist
Sue
Mackay
Painting
“My practice is rooted in the intersection of control and spontaneity, where materials drive process. I work intuitively with paint, translucent substrates, and surface treatments, allowing materials to guide the evolution of each piece. Layering, removing, and reapplying marks, I build compositions that embody tension, rhythm, and balance.My work explores the interplay of transparency, light, and shadow. I invite viewers into a sensory experience, where the boundaries between surface and depth, gesture and atmosphere, become fluid. How I work and what I express are one and the same. It is about freedom. Freedom to lay down the paint and move it freely across the surface without expectation of outcome. Freedom to colour outside the lines and use materials that surprise and evolve. Ultimately, my work seeks to evoke an emotional resonance, a feeling of encountering something both familiar and unknown.”

Sue Mackay is a Toronto-based abstract artist. She is currently completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ontario College of Art and Design University. Sue is a process-driven painter, and is playing with the layering colour and texture to evoke a sense of feeling and emotion. Sue is a member of the Board of Directors at the Artists’ Network in Toronto. She is a member of the Partial Gallery in Toronto, and her work can be found in private collections throughout Canada and the United States. When not painting, Sue sits on the marketing advisory boards for several charitable organizations, and she is also a past Mentor/Faculty at the Emergence Lab at the Banff Media Centre.
Painting
2026, 2026 Format Website Prize
RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers Career Launcher
