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CREASE, Susan Reynolds
- Born
- Antron, Cornwall, England, 1855
- Died
- Victoria, British Columbia, 1947
- Biography synopsis
- Second daughter of Sir Henry Pellew Crease and Lady Sarah Lindley Crease, Susan Reynolds immigrated to Victoria in 1860 and became a student at Mrs. E.C. Fellow's Private School for Girls. She moved with her family to New Westminster in 1862 when her father became attorney-general of the colony. Six years later, they returned to Victoria and settled into their family home, Pentrelew. Like her mother and sisters, she exhibited an interest in art and, from 1889-91, attended King's College in London, England where she took antique and life classes with Albert William Holden. She also took private lessons with many artists both in England and Canada, such as Lottie Aliston, who taught her sketching, Ainslie Borrow for freehand drawing, and Georgina de L'Aubiniere. In the company of her sister, Josephine, and Sophie Pemberton, she took sketching trips around Vancouver Island, and executed many watercolour views of the area. A member of the Island Arts and Crafts Society, she participated in several of their exhibitions, and also had occasional private commissions. Art was not her only pastime, however: Susan Reynolds was also a passionate activist for women's rights. Not only was she a member of the Local Council of Women from 1884-1933, but she ensured that the visit to Victoria of suffragist leader, Emily Pankhurst, was a success.
- Media used
- Drawing
- Painting
- Watercolour
- Education
- King's College, London, 1889 - 1891 (under Albert William Holden)
- Private study, 1889 (under Lottie Aliston)
- Private study (under Ainslie Borrow)
- De L'Aubinière Studio, Victoria, 1887 - 1888 (under Charles and Georgina de L'Aubiniere)
- Memberships
- Island Arts and Crafts Society
- File & Archive locations
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
- British Columbia Archives
- Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- "Obituary" Colonist (Victoria, BC) Victoria, BC: 16 July 1947
- Bonson, Anita. "Sarah Crease and Susan Crease: diaries, British Columbia, 1878" The small details of life: twenty diaries by women in Canada, 1830-1996 Toronto, Buffalo: University ot Toronto Press, 2002
- Gilmore, Bernice C. Artists Overland: A Visual Record of British Columbia 1793-1886 Burnaby: Burnaby Art Gallery, 1980
- Harper, J. Russell. Early Painters and Engravers in Canada Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970
- Johnson-Dean, Christina B. The Crease Family and the Arts in Victoria, British Columbia. Ottawa: National Library of Canada, 1983
- McKendry, Blake. Dictionary of Folk Artists in Canada: From the 17th Century to the Present Elginburg: Blake McKendry, 1988
- Petteys, Chris, et al. Dictionary of Women Artists: An International Dictionary of Women Artists Born Before 1900 Boston: G. K. Hall, 1985
- Powell, Barbara. "The diaries of the Crease women" BC Studies Nos. 105/106 (1995): 44-58
- Vancouver Centennial Museum. An inventory and catalogue of historical paintings and drawings done in 19th-century British Columbia Vancouver: Centennial Museum, 1969
