Biography

Susan Dobson

Susan Dobson graduated with her MFA from the University of Guelph in 1997. Her work has been exhibited in major photography festivals such as CONTACT (Toronto), Fotoseptiembre (Mexico City), Images Festival (Vevey, Switzerland), Le Mois de la Photo (Montreal), Bitume/Bitumen (Brussels), and FotoNoviembre (Tenerife, Spain) as well as public gallery exhibitions across Canada, the US and Europe.

Her recent exhibition, “Slide Library” at the Ryerson Image Centre was named by the Globe and Mail’s Kate Taylor as one of the top 10 most stunning exhibitions of 2021.

Extensively reviewed with articles in CV Photo, Harper’s, Photo Metro, Magenta Magazine, Prefix Photo and Border Crossings, Dobson’s work has also been published in Carte Blanche, a compendium of Canadian photography in 2006, and Massive Change, Bruce Mau’s 2004 primer on new inventions and technologies.

In 2011, Dobson received a major grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to fund a 4-year collaborative project with curator Alison Nordström of the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. The group exhibition, Of Time and Buildings, which included Dobson’s work, was first shown at George Eastman House in March 2014 and travelled to the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre in 2015.

In 2019, Susan Dobson was long-listed for the Scotiabank Photography Award.

Dobson’s photographs are in the corporate collections of BMO Bank of Montreal, Scotiabank and TD Bank Group as well as many public galleries including the National Gallery of Canada, Oakville Galleries, Swiss Museum of Photography, and the Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Spain.

She lives in Guelph, Ontario where she is Associate Professor at the University of Guelph.

Selected Works

Exhibitions

March 15 - March 17 - 2024

MGG Returns to Creemore

MGG Returns to Creemore March 15 - 17, 2024

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Susan Dobson

February 18 - March 26 - 2022

Susan Dobson “Focus | Finder”

Current exhibition featuring the photographs from Susan Dobson's "Focus | Finder" series

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Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

1997 MFA, University of Guelph.
1988 Bachelor of Applied Arts, Ryerson University
1984 International Baccalaureate, Lester Pearson College of the Pacific

COLLECTIONS

The Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography
(An affiliate of the National Gallery of Canada)
Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Spain
The Toronto Archives
McIntosh Gallery
Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
Mackenzie Lake LLP
Portland Art Museum
BMO Financial Group
Accenture
Art Gallery of Windsor
Frommer Lawrence, Haug, New York
Oakville Galleries
Oakville Hospital
State Street Trust Company
Scotiabank
TD Bank Group
Lerners LLP
Private Collections

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021 Focus Finder & Viewfinder, Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery, Sarnia, ON
2021 Slide Library, Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto, ON
2019 Back/Fill. Exterior installation and site-specific interior exhibition in the Daniels Building for Architecture; core exhibitionfor the CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
2018 Slide Library, Michael Gibson Gallery, London, ON
2017 Slide Library, feature exhibition, Fotonoviembre 2017, Tenerife, Spain, curated by Gilberto Gonzalez.
2017 Viewfinder, Gallery Stratford, Stratford, ON
2016/17 Images Festival, exhibition in the Swiss Camera Museum and mural on the building’s facade, Art Biennale in Vevey, Switzerland, curated by Stafano Stoll.
2016 Equivalents: Come Up to My Room, the Gladstone Hotel, a collaboration with Simone Ferkul, curated by Jana Macalik & Nuria Montblanch.
2015 Viewfinder, Orleans Campus Gallery, Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2014 Viewfinder, Michael Gibson Gallery, London Ontario, Canada
2012 Transmission, Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
11/12 By Design, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
2010 Dislocation, The Department, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Endlessly Traversed Landscapes, a site specific billboard installation in conjunction with the
Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. Organized by VANOC and curated by Natalie Doonan.
2009 Retail, The Department, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A CONTACT photography festival feature
exhibition.
2008 Temporary Architectures, Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. In
conjunction with the photography festival Photopolis, and with Nocturne: Art at Night.
Rememory, The Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
2006 Open House, Elora Centre for the Arts, Elora, Ontario, Canada.
2005 Open House, National Center for the Arts (Cenart,) Mexico City, Mexico.
Open House, Fotoseptiembre 2005, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City, Mexico.
Open House, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Susan Dobson: Interiors, The Toronto Free Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Contact Photography Festival feature exhibition.
2004/05 Open House, Art Gallery of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
2004 Open House, SRO Photo Gallery, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA.
Open House, Tatar Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
No Fixed Address, Gallery 44 Project Room, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
2002/03 Sprawl, Centennial Gallery, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
2001 Natural Law, Tatar Alexander Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
2000 Home Invasion, Justina Barnicke Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Home Invasion, Artspace, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
Home Invasion, The Photographers Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Vanishing Point, The Floating Gallery Centre for Photography, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
1999 Home Invasion, Struts Gallery, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.
Lots 16-23, The Redhead Gallery Showcase, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Home Invasion, Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1997 Vanishing Point, New York State University, Buffalo, New York, USA.
Vanishing Point, Zavitz Hall Gallery, Guelph University, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

TWO-PERSON AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019  Rearview Mirror, Image Foundry, CONTACT Photography festival exhibition, curated by Thom Sokoloski,Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

2017/18Downtown/s: Urban Renewal Today for Tomorrow, the 2017 Art Gallery of Windsor Triennial of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, curated by Jaclyn MelocheArt Toronto, Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Michael Gibson Gallery)
City Landscape: Susan Dobson, Elliott Erwitt, Thomas Hoepker, Peikwen Cheng and Ellen Bornkesel, In Focus Gallery, Cologne, Germany.
Text: Margot Ariss, Greg Curnoe, Susan Dobson, Gathie Falk, Ufuk Gueray, Jason McLean, Erik Olson and Diana Thorneycroft. Michael Gibson Gallery, London, Canada.

2016  Dear Life, Art Gallery of Guelph, curated by Shauna McCabe, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Greatest Hits, Renann Isaacs Gallery, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
A Field Guide to Nowhere, curated by Amy Friend, Marilyn Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University, St. Catherines, Ontario.
Art Toronto, Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Michael Gibson Gallery and Renann Isaacs Gallery)
Art Karlsruhe, International Art Fair, Karlsruhe, Germany (In Focus Gallery)

2015 Of Time and Buildings, exhibition curated by Alison Nordström and Dawn Owen, Art Gallery of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Possible Worlds: An Exhibition of Contemporary Art, curated by Shannon Anderson, Oakville Hospital, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
The View From Here,featuring Susan Dobson, Jason Gowans, Toni Hafkenscheid, Clive Holden, and Joshua Jensen-Nagle, Contact feature exhibition curated by Kendra Ainsworth, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
Master Class: Works by MFA Graduates Selected from the MSAC Collection, curated by Dawn Owen, Boarding House Gallery, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Winter Group Exhibition: Wanda Koop and Susan Dobson, Michael Gibson Gallery, London, Ontario, Canada.

2014 Blue Sky,curated by Julia Dolan, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, USA.Of Time and Buildings, Group exhibition at George Eastman House, curated by Alison Nordström, International Museum for Photography and Film, Rochester, New York, USA.
Art Toronto, Toronto International Art Fair, Booth 802, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Michael Gibson Gallery)
Art/Craft auction exhibition, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me, curated by Marnie Fleming, Centennial Gallery, Oakville, Ontario.

2013 Peopled by the Unknown: Susan Dobson and Matt Macintosh, Gallery 44, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada.
Auto-Motive: World from the Windshield, curated by Marnie Fleming, Centennial Gallery, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
Wish you were here: Interventions into landscape, curated by Jocelyn Purdie, Union Gallery,
Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Art Fair Cologne, Cologne, Germany (representation by In Focus Gallery)
“1”, Boarding House Gallery, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
12/13 Builders: Canadian Biennial 2012, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Picturing Immigrants in the Ward, curated by Sarah Bassnett and Patrick Mahon, City of Toronto Archives, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

2012 Uncertain World, the University of Waterloo Art Gallery, curated by Ivan Jurakic, Waterloo,
Ontario, Canada.
Group Exhibition, Atti Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Constructed View, curated by Patrick Macaulay, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada.
11/12 Bank on Art. Artwork featured on the bank machine at 952 Queen St. West and online at
http://bankonart.net/artist.php?id=176
Atlántica Colectivas, part of PHOTONOVIEMBRE 2011, Island Tenerife, Spain.

2011 Art Fair, Cologne, Germany.
Noir, Renann Isaacs gallery, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Spaces of the City, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
The 5th KWAG Biennial, The Black and the White: An Allegory of Colour, curated by Robert
Enright.
American Temples, curated by Burkhard Arnold, In Focus Gallery, Cologne, Germany.
Secrets and Lies: Susan Dobson and Arthur Renwick, curated by Ilse Gassinger, Durham Art Gallery, Ontario, Canada.
Meghan Fish Contemporary group exhibition, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

2010 Natural. Disaster. Curated by Jessica Wyman, The McIntosh Gallery, The University of
Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
Building a Legacy, Curating a Collection, curated by Judith Nasby, The Macdonald Stewart
Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

2009/2010 BEYOND PLACE: Recent Photography Acquisitions, The Portland Art Museum, Portland,
Oregon, USA.
Screen 2010, part of CODE and the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. Curated by Milena
Placentile. http://www.vancouver2010.com/code

2009  KWAG Biennial, curated by Nancy Campbell, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

2008 Transactions, Chongqing Art Museum, Sichuan Fine Art Institute, Chongqing, China.
Exhibition Curator: Feng Bin.
New on the Wall, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Is there a there there? Curated by Marnie Fleming, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario,
Canada.

2008/2009 Beyond the Frame, The Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario. Canada.

2007 Re-envisioning Habitat, curated by Derek J.J. Knight, Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
Views, camerafrontera festival, North Bay Area Museum, North Bay, Ontario, Canada.

2006 Addressing Oakville, curated by Shannon Anderson, Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

2005 Interior Insights, Royal College of Art, London, England.
Transitive: Toronto Artists in St. Petersburg, preview at the Kabat Wrobel Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Sampler: The 2nd KW/AG Biennial, curated by Andrew Hunter, the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Ontario, Canada.

2004 Project Toronto, Toronto Free Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Affectations, Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
44 Comes To Clarington, The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada.

2002 Badlands, Confederation Centre for the Arts, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Guelph 2002, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

2001 Suburbia, Art Gallery of Peel, Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
Range of Vision, Tatar Alexander Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Suburbia: Susan Dobson and Keith Moulding, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

2000 e/rector/scape, Harcourt House Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
2000 words, curated by Gary Michael Dault, TPW, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

1999 Bitume/Bitumen 99, an international photography event in Brussels. Presented by VIEW_FINDER.
Le Mois de la Photo – La Couleur du Confort, curated by Eléne Tremblay, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The exhibition toured galleries in the Montreal region in 1999/2000.

1998 Tall Orders: On The Spiritual In Art, curated by Gary Michael Dault, The Propeller Center for
the Visual Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Greater Reston Arts Center Annual Juried Fine Arts Exhibition, Reston, Virginia, USA.
Juror: J.W. Mahoney, Washington’s Corresponding Editor for Art in America.
The 6th Annual Junction Arts Festival, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

1997 Crossing Borders, Castellani Art Museum, Niagara, New York, USA.

1991 Who We Are, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

FESTIVAL SCREENINGS

2009 Rememory, the Contemporary Video Art Screening Series, Gallery Lambton, Sarnia,
Ontario.
2007 “Flash Flood: International Video Art Festival,” Tucson, Arizona.

GRANTS

2019  Explore and Create, Canada Council for the Arts.Concept to Realization, Canada Council for the Arts.
2018  Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council.
2017  SSHRC seed funding, University of Guelph.
2016  Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council.Travel Grant, The Canada Council for the Arts.
2015 Established Artist Grant for the Visual Artists, OAC
2011 SSHRC Research/Creation Grant, for “The Pictured Past and the Future Perfect: Shifting Tenses
in Contemporary Photography.”
Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council.
2010 Grant for Individual Visual Artists, Mid Career, Ontario Arts Council.
Ontario Arts Council National Residency Grant, for a creative residency at the Banff Centre.
Chalmers Professional Development Grant, 2010.
Travel Grant, The Canada Council for the Arts.
2009 SSHRC General Research Grant, University of Guelph.
2008 Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council.
Grant for Individual Visual Artists, Mid Career, Ontario Arts Council.
2007 Creation/Production Grant, The Canada Council for the Arts.
2006 SSHRC University of Guelph Travel Grant.
Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council.
2005 Foreign Affairs Travel Grant.
SSHRC University of Guelph Travel Grant.
Travel Grant, The Canada Council for the Arts.
2004 Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council.
2003 Creation/Production Grant, The Canada Council for the Arts.
Grant for Individual Visual Artists, Mid Career, Ontario Arts Council.
2002 Artist in the Community Grant, Ontario Arts Council.
Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council.
2001 Creation/Production Grant, The Canada Council for the Arts.
Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council.
Grant for Individual Visual Artists, Emerging Artist, Ontario Arts Council
2000 Grant for Individual Visual Artists, Emerging Artist, Ontario Arts Council
1999 Travel Grant, The Canada Council for the Arts.
Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council.
Creation/Production Grant, The Canada Council for the Arts.
Grant for Individual Visual Artists, Emerging Artist, Ontario Arts Council
1998 Grant for Individual Visual Artists, Emerging Artist, Ontario Arts Council

AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

2019  Scotiabank Photography Award long list
2006 Award of Distinction, The International Colour Awards.
2001 Gold National Magazine Award, Category: Urban and Natural Landscapes.
The Advertising & Design Club of Canada Silver Award, Category: Photojournalism.
1998 K.M. Hunter Emerging Artist Award for Visual Arts, Ontario Arts Council.
1997 Best of Show, Crossing Borders (Juror: Cheryl Brutvan, Senior Curator, The Albright Knox Art
Gallery), Castellani Art Museum.
The Margaret Craig Memorial Scholarship, The University of Guelph.
The Delpha Award, The University of Guelph.
1996 The Margaret Craig Memorial Scholarship, The University of Guelph.
Board of Graduate Studies Research Scholarship, The University of Guelph.
1991 Gold National Magazine Award, Category: Photojournalism.

ARTIST TALKS/INTERVIEWS

2019University of the Arts Bremen, Bremen, Germany
2018 Ryerson University, MFA in Documentary Media Program, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
2018 Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
2017 Gallery Stratford, Stratford, Ontario, Canada.
2016 Brock University, St. Catherine’s, Ontario, Canada.
Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
2015 Orleans Gallery, Shenkman Arts Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
2014 George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film, Rochester, NY, USA
2013 National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
2012 Interview for Rogers TV Waterloo Region, Grand River Living, interview by Anandi Carroll-
Woolery, produced by Derek Roberts, air dates Feb 20 – Feb 24, 2012.
Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
2011 “Artist Susan Dobson speaks about her work in the exhibition, The Black and the White: An
Allegory of Colour”
2010 The Department, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
McIntosh Gallery, London, Ontario, Canada.
St. Mary’s University Art Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Celebrate Our Artists, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
2008 CFMU radio, The Artist’s Life Style, interview with Laura Hollick, October 7, 2008.
2006 Kitchener City Hall, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
2005 The Art Gallery of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
2004 The Clarington Art Centre, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada.
Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
2003 Centennial Gallery, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
2001 Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
2000 Artspace, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
University of Saskatchewan, Department of Art and Art History, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
1999 Artist talk and assessment of student work, University of Toronto, Faculty of Architecture,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1998 The Canadian Federation of University Women, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1997 Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

LECTURES

2019  CONTACT public installation panel, the Art Gallery of Ontario
2015 Round table discussion, Time and Temporality symposium the Art Gallery of Guelph.
2014 Art and Ideas, panel discussion on the work of Eileen McArthur. Renann Isaacs Gallery, Guelph, Canada-Ontario.
2014 Round table discussion with Joyce Lau and Matt Macintosh, in conjunction with the exhibition “Peopled by the Unknown”, Gallery 44, Toronto, Ontario.
2013 University Art Association Conference in Banff, Session Chair, The Pictured Past and the
Future Perfect: In Search of a new Photographic Discourse.
2007 “Digital mutations and photographic ways of seeing in the portraits of Nancy Burson,
Aziz+Cucher, and Loretta Lux,” presented at the University Art Association of Canada Conference at the University of Waterloo.
2006 “Constructed Fictions: Artifice and Illusion in Photographs of the Suburbs,” paper presented at
the conference Espaces Interieurs: Maison et Art. Barcelona, Spain.
2005 “The City and Its Periphery: Searching for Identity in Suburban Sprawl,” presented at the
conference Imagen y la ciudad. Mexico City, Mexico.
2003 Art Means Business, A Management Training Course for Artists, Nipissing University, North
Bay, Ontario, Canada.
2002 Art Means Business, A Management Training Course for Artists, University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
The Fine Art of Being a Professional, A Guide to Career Paths & Ongoing Study, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

REPRODUCTIONS IN BOOKS

2016 Sociology of Home, edited by Joseph Moore, Gillian Anderson and Laura Suski, 2016
2006 Blue Sky 05/06, with forward by Christopher Rauschenberg, Oregon Center for the
Photographic Arts, 2006.
Carte Blanche, a compendium of Canadian Photography, Magenta Ltd., 2006.
2004 Massive Change, by Bruce Mau, Phaidon Press Ltd., 2004.
Literature and the Writing Process, cover photograph, McMahan, Day, and Funk, 2004.
2003 The Presence of Excellence, twenty-five years of selections from the National Magazine
Awards, profile of work completed for Toronto Life in 1991, published by the National Magazine
Awards Foundation, 2003.

FILM

2006 Contributor to the documentary film Radiant City. Produced by Gary Burns and Jim Brown.

ARTICLES/PHOTO ESSAYS

2019  “Optical illusion sees a Toronto building turned into a back-filled rubble heap,” by Betty Wood, The Spaces, May 10, 2019.
“Susan Dobson exhibits Back/Fill installation at University of Toronto,” Canadian Architect, June 2019.
2018  “On the Canvas: Outdated slides given new life by Guelph photographer,” London Free Press, by Joe Belanger, May 2,2018
2017 “Portfolio excerpt: Viewfinder,” Harper’s, November 2017.
2017 “Slide Library: Susan Dobson,” Prefix Photo, Issue 35.
2016 “Portfolio: Susan Dobson,” Magenta, Summer/Fall 2016, Volume 7, No 2.
2015 “Shifting Tenses: In conversation with Susan Dobson,” Interview by Christina Labey, conveyor magazine, The Time Travel Issue, No. 7, Winter 2015.
“Susan Dobson: Viewfinder,” Ballarat International Foto Biennale magazine, Australia.
2015 “Winter Group Show: Wanda Koop and Susan Dobson,” by Megan Crosbie
2014Lakes with layers of history on display, by Joe Belanger, The London Free Press,June 9, 2014.
2014Perception of people and place “Of Time and Buildings”, by Rebecca Rafferty, Rochester City Newspaper, May 07, 2014
2014Susan Dobson’s Abandoned Buildings Are Timeless Reminders ThatIt All Turns to Dust, by Sara Barnes, March 14, 2014, www.beautifuldecay.com
2013 Canadian Biennial Aims To Build Different Vision Of National Art, National Gallery of Canada,
Ottawa November 2, 2012, to January 20, 2013, By Leah Sandals in Canadian Art online edition,
posted November 1, 2012. www.canadianart.ca/features/2012/11/01/builders-biennial/
A blunder in the blueprint, The Telegraph Journal, by Paul Gessell, Saturday, November 3, 2012, S5.
2012 “Susan Dobson: By Design,” Prefix Photo, Volume 13, No.1, 2012.
“Susan Dobson: Moonrise,” Hamilton Arts and Letters, Issue five, Spring/Summer 2012.
http://samizdatpress.typepad.com/spring_2012_hamilton_arts/susan-dobson-…
1.html
“Susan Dobson: Retail,” article by Anna Cox, Hamilton Arts and Letters, Issue five,
Spring/Summer 2012. http://samizdatpress.typepad.com/spring_2012_hamilton_arts/susandobson-
retail-by-anna-cox-1.html
“In conversation with Susan Dobson,” interview with Marianne Pointner, The Ontarion, Thursday,
Feb 2, 2012.
2011 “Anxious Desires: The Photography of Susan Dobson,” interview with Robert Enright, Border
Crossings, issue no. 119, 2011.
“KWAG Biennial: Monochrome Mavericks,” by David Balzer, Canadian Art Online, June 9, 2011,
www.canadianart.ca/online/see-it/2011/06/09/kwag_biennial/
2010 “Closing their eyes to reach into the past,” by Natalie Osborne, The Guelph Mercury, July 12,
2010.
“On the Canvas,” by Kathy Rumleski, The London Free Press, Mar 3, 2010.
“Olympian effort on display in B.C.,” The Guelph Tribune, Feb 4, 2010.
“Mind open, eyes closed,” University of Guelph Research Magazine, Volume XXV Number 1, Winter 2010.
2009 “Some Kind of Wonderful,” by Robert Reid, The Record, July 23, 2009.
“Constructive Criticism,” by Isa Tousignant, enRoute magazine, May 2009.
“I am a Camera,” article by Lori Bona Hunt, At Guelph, February 11, 2009.
“Rememory: Artist brings memories into the present,” cover story on the rememory exhibition by
Lori Bona Hunt, The Portico magazine, Winter 2009.
2008 “Susan Dobson: Temporary Architectures,” exhibition publication by St. Mary’s University Art
Gallery. Essay by Robin Metcalfe.
“Rememory,” profile of rememory exhibition, Ascent magazine, issue 40, 2008.
“You finished with your eyes?” exhibition publication by Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. Essay by
Dawn Owen.
“Photopolis and Nocturne: Where Darkrooms Meet White Nights,” Canadian Art Online Edition,
Oct 2008.
“Is there a there there?” exhibition publication by Oakville Galleries. Essay by Marnie Fleming.
“Photographic Memory,” article by Duncan Day-Myron, The Ontarion, Vol.157, Issue 10, 2008.
2007 “Re-Envisioning Habitat,” exhibition essay by Derek J.J. Knight for Oakville Galleries, 2007.
2006 “Individuality is hanging on the walls,” article by Sarah McGoldrick, News Express, May, 2006.
2005 “Spatial Portraits,” article by Laura Hollick, Canadian Interiors, Sep/Oct 2005,
“The Lure of Verisimilitude,” article by Dot Tuer, Contact Magazine, May 2005.
2004 “Projected Changes,” article by Geoff Girvitz, Saturday Night, September 2004.
“It’s What’s Inside That Counts,” article by Samantha Grice, The National Post, January 8, 2004.
2003 “Susan Dobson: Home Invasion,” on/site review, Issue 10, 2003.
No Fixed Address,” photo essay by Susan Dobson, CBC Radio 3 Online Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 8, Oct 24, 2003.
“Home Truths”, photo essay by Susan Dobson, CBC Radio 3 Online Magazine, Volume I, Issue 16, March 14-20, 2003.
“35 Morningview Drive,” article by Bobbi Thandi, The Green Banana, Summer, 2003.
2002 “A Real Estate Bubble?” photograph reproduced from the series ‘Home Invasion.’ Maclean’s,
Sep 30, 2002.
2001 “Postcards from the edge,” photo essay by Susan Dobson, Toronto Life, May 2001.

REVIEWS

2016 A Field Guide to Nowhere, by Bart Gazzola, Magenta Magazine, Spring 2016
2013Framing Emotional Geographies Through a Car’s Lens, by Rea McNamara, Blouin Artinfo, August 8, 2013.
2011 “Susan Dobson at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery,” Akimblog review by Gil McElroy, posted Dec 6, 2011, http://www.akimbo.ca/akimblog/?id=499
“Susan Dobson: Dislocation,” by Gary Michael Dault, Ciel Variable, Issue 87, Jan – May 2011.
2010 “Susan Dobson at the Department,” by Matthew Purvis, blog TO, 2010
http://www.blogto.com/arts/2010/09/art_agenda_group_show_at_narwhal_susa…
_department_and_jonathan_demmes_collection_of_haitian_art_at_the_gladstone/
2009 “Susan Dobson at the DepARTment,” Akimblog posted by Terence Dick, www.akimbo.ca, May
28, 2009.
“CONTACT Report: Typologies of Nowhere,” by Derek Flack, blog TO,
http://www.blogto.com/contact_toronto/2009/05/contact_report_typologies_…, May 3, 2009.
2008 “Susan Dobson: Rememory,” review by Emma Renda, ECHO, Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2008.
Akimbo blog: Nocturne: Art at Night. Posted by Sue Carter Flinn, November 18th, 2008.
http://www.akimbo.biz/akimblog/?id=241
“Temporary Architectures,” review by Mike Landry, Things of Desire, art blogzine
www.thingsofdesire.wordpress.com. Oct 16 – Oct 23, 2008.
“New exhibition probes memory, time, experience,” The Guelph Tribune, Friday, Sep 19, 2008.
2007 “Art exhibit examines clash between culture and nature,” review by Krissie Rutherford, The
Oakville Beaver, Friday, Feb 2, 2007.
2006 “Artists provide unique perspectives of Oakville,” review by Krissie Rutherford, The Oakville
Beaver, Friday, Feb. 3, 2006.
2005 “Llevan su moda al Chopo,” review in EL UNIVERSAL, 21-PF (cm2:1395), Sep, 2005.
“Inauguraron en el Chopo 6 Muestras, en el Marco de Fotoseptiembre,” review in EXCELSIOR,
2-B (113 cm2), Sep, 2005.
“Llueven fotos en el Chopo,” REFORMA, 39-PF (264 cm2), Sep, 2005.
“Super Snooper: Photographer Susan Dobson peeks into private spaces,” review by Wes LaFortune, FFWD Weekly, January 13, 2005.
2004 “The Portrait of Our Material Selves,” review by Laura Hollick, The View, Vol. 10 No. 23, Jun 3-9, 2004.
“Beauty in routine,” review by Thomas Hirschmann, NOW, Volume 23, No. 31, Apr 1-7, 2004.
“A peeping Tom invades suburbia,” review by Gary Michael Dault, The Globe and Mail, Jan 31 2004.
“Suburbia reveals its colourful secrets,” article by Peter Goddard, The Toronto Star, Jan 31, 2004.
2003 “Bad Lands: The Outsiderism of Susan Dobson, Ray Mortenson, and Jaclyn Shoub”, article by
Shauna McCabe, BlackFlash, Vol. 21.1, 2003.
2002 “Sprawl puts suburbia in focus: Photographic exhibit study with a message”, review by Elaine
Hujer, The Hamilton Spectator, Dec 13, 2002
“Photographer takes aim at the suburbs in Sprawl,” The Oakville Beaver, Nov 15, 2002.
“Photographer documents life in Oakville,” review by Craig MacBride, The Oakville Beaver, 2002.
2001 “Susan Dobson at Tatar Alexander”, review by Gary Michael Dault, Gallery Going, The Globe
and Mail, September 29, 2001.
e/rector/scape,” review by Kerry Mogg, FUSE, Volume 23, Number 3, 2001.
2000 “Urban landscape,” review by Charles Mandel, The Edmonton Journal, August 4, 2000.
“Art imitates gentrification,” review by Gilbert A. Bouchard, SEE Magazine, August 3 – 9, 2000.
“e/rector/scape,” review by Maureen Fenniak, Vue Weekly, August 3 – 9, 2000.
“When there is no Limit to Spirit. Tall Orders: On the Spiritual in Art,” review by Rozena Maart,
FUSE, Volume 22, Number 4, 2000.
“le mois de la photo à montréal,” review by Bill Kouwenhoven, photo metro, Volume 18, Issue 157, 2000.
1999 “Le Document Photographique: Logique de la Séduction,” review by Christine Desrochers, ETC
Montreal, No. 48, 1999.
“Le Mois de la Photo,” review by Marie-France Bisson, Le Devoir, Sept 5, 1999.
“Le Mois de la Photo Arrêt Sur Image,” review by Nicolas Mavrikakis, VOIR, Sept 15, 1999.
“The world turned into a picture,” review by Henry Lehmann, The Montreal Gazette, Sept 18, 1999.
“Chroniques du banal,” review by Bernard LaMarche, Le Devoir, Sept 26, 1999.
“Disturbingly Suburban”, review by Gobi Kim, Azure, Sept/Oct 1999.
“Staking out Troubled Terrain”, review by Gary Michael Dault, Gallery Going, The Globe and
Mail, July 10, 1999.

PUBLISHED WRITING

2007 Essay titled “Constructed Illusions: Photography of Suburban Interiors,” published in Espais
Interiors Casa I Art. University of Barcelona Press, Barcelona, 2007. Salsa, Teresa-M. and
Rosa Maria, ed.
2000 “Corporeal Art,” article published in function, Volume 3, 2000.
1996 “The End of R+D in the Art World,” article published in MIX, Volume 22.2, 1996.

CATALOGUES AND PUBLICATIONS

2019  CONTACT 2019, catalogue for the CONTACT photography festival, with a text on Back/Fill by co-curators Laura Miller and Bonnie Rubenstein
2018 Susan Dobson: Slide Library, Catalogue published by Michael Gibson Gallery. Essay by Alison Nordstrom
2018 Downtown’s Urban Renewal Today for Tomorrow, the 2017 Art Gallery of Windsor Triennial of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Windsor
2017Fotonoviembre 2017, catalogue for the Bienal Internacional de Fotografia de Tenerife, curated by Gilberto Gonzales.
2016 Images Festival 2016, catalogue for the Art Biennale in Vevey, Switzerland, curated by Stefano Stoll.
2015 Of Time and Buildings, catalogue published by the Art Gallery of Guelph. Essay by Sarah Bassnett.
2014 Susan Dobson: Viewfinder,Catalogue published by Michael Gibson Gallery. Essay by Amish Morell.
2014 Susan Dobson: Open House, monograph published by Blue Sky publishing, Portland, Oregon,
USA. Essay by Shannon Anderson.
2014 Susan Dobson and Matt Macintosh: Peopled by the Unknown, Gallery 44 exhibition pamphlet.
2013 FN11: FOTONOVIEMBRE 2013, XI Bienal Internacional de Fotografia de Tenerife.
2012 Builders, catalogue published by the National Gallery of Canada, essays by Jonathan
Shaughnessy, Heather Anderson, Andrea Kunard, Christine Lalonde, Ann Thomas.
2011 Shifting Tenses, published by the Robert McLaughlin Gallery and by Cambridge Galleries.
2010 Natural. Disaster. Catalogue, published by the McIntosh Gallery, essay by Jessica Wyman.
Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad catalogue, published by VANOC, essay by Natalie Doonan.
2009 Some Kind of Wonderful: The 4th KW/AG Biennial, published by the Kitchener-Waterloo Art
Gallery.
2008 Temporary Architectures, published by St. Mary’s University Art Gallery.
Rememory, published by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre.
Transactions, published online by the Chongqing Art Museum, Sichuan Fine Art Institute, Chongqing, China.
2007 Flashflood, published online by the International Video Art Festival.
Camerafrontera 2007, published by White Water Gallery.
2006 Fotoseptiembre 2005, published by Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico.
Blue Sky, published by Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA.
2004 Affectations, published by Hamilton Artists Inc.
44 at Clarington, published by the Clarington Art Centre.
2002 Guelph Artists 2002, published by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre.
Suburbia: Susan Dobson and Keith Moulding, published by the Dunlop Art Gallery. Essay by Helen Marzolf.
Susan Dobson — Sprawl, an exhibition pamphlet published by the Oakville Galleries. Essay by Marnie Fleming.
2001 Suburbia, published by the Art Gallery of Peel.
2000 2000 Words, published by the Toronto Photographers Workshop.
1999 Le souci du document: le mois de la photo à Montréal, 1999, published by Vox, centre de
diffusion de la photographie. Catalogue essay by Élène Tremblay.
1987 Del Bello Gallery International Miniature Art Exhibition, published by the Del Bello Gallery.

News

Susan Dobson

Susan Dobson Talk @ TOM

Join Susan Dobson on Feb 10 for an artist talk about her current show "Parallax" at the TOM.

More
Susan Dobson

Susan Dobson @ TOM

Susan Dobson's "Parallax" Exhibition at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery

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Publications

Susan Dobson

Susan Dobson “Slide Library”

Alison Nordstrom

Michael Gibson Gallery

April 2018

36 pages, colour illustrations, 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, softcover

$20

Exhibition catalogue for Susan Dobson's May 2018 exhibition featuring photographs from her "Slide Library" series.  The photographs come from two slide collections that are in the process of being dismantled.  One collection focuses on art (both contemporary and historical), while the other mostly contains slides about photography.  Dobson has photographed different material aspects of each collection: slide drawers, slide lecture carousels, slide ephemera and filing cabinets both inside and out.

Susan Dobson “Viewfinder”

Amish Morrell

Michael Gibson Gallery

October 2014

28 pages, colour illustrations, 8 x 8 1/2 inches, softcover

$15.00

Susan Dobson's "Viewfinder" catalogue compliments her 2013-2014 series of photographs. With an insightful essay by Amish Morrell, editor of C Magazine, the catalogue includes installation shots and images of the individual photographs in the series including three of the newest completed in the summer of 2014.

Videos

Susan Dobson’s “Focus | Finder”

2 minute introductory video on Susan Dobson's "Focus | Finder" series of photographs

Susan Dobson “Slide Library” Interview

Photographer Susan Dobson gives us a tour of her May 2018 "Slide Library" exhibition.  Watch our 4 minute video interview with Dobson where she describes the background behind the series and her interest in highlighting the history of photography.