From student, to world-renowned artist, and now inspirational professor
With an undergraduate degree focused strictly on photography from Ryerson University, Susan Dobson was looking for the next step in her academic, and artistic, career. That step came to her in the form of a recommendation from the Chair of Image Arts at Ryerson University, pointing Dobson in the direction of the Masters of Fine Arts program at the University of Guelph.
The recommendation would ultimately lead to Dobon’s current career as a professor for the school of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Guelph. Looking back on her time as a student, Dobson is grateful for her advisor, Suzy Lake. “She taught me a great deal about juggling an active art practice with teaching and parenthood,” Dobson explained. “I learned to manage my time, put career highs and lows into perspective, and appreciate the inter-connectiveness of art and life.”
With these important lessons and values learned, Dobson achieved great success showing her photographs and other art pieces in exhibits all around the world, including the United Kingdom, Belgium, China, Germany, Spain, and Mexico. When reflecting back on a possible defining moment, Dobson found it difficult, and for good reason. “I was included in the Canadian Biennial titled ‘Builders’ at the National Gallery last year,” Dobson suggested. “I’m not sure if this was a ‘defining moment’ for me, but it was such an honour to have my work shown alongside so many artists that I admire and respect.”
With a career that includes being a featured artist in several photography festivals such as CONTACT (Toronto), FotoNoviembre (Spain), Le Mois de la Photo (Montreal), and Fotoseptiembre (Mexico City), as well receiving numerous awards and grants from both the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Art Council, it is clear why one would have difficulty drawing out just one defining moment out of such a decorated career.
Dobson also had the incredible opportunity as one of the contributing artists to the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. “I was very pleased to have a very small part to play in the Olympics,” Dobson said of the experience. “My work was shown on two billboards in downtown Vancouver. One billboard was in front of Canada Hockey Place, which made me very popular with relatives and friends who don’t understand much about art, but who love hockey.”
Not unlike many other artists, Dobson faced the struggle of her family’s difficulty to relate to the career choice she had made. “My parents wanted me to become a brain surgeon, so I first studied science until I realized that I wasn’t going to be happy if I didn’t switch into the arts,” Dobson explained. “They were disappointed by my decision, but external indicators such as scholarships, grants, and exhibitions made it easier for them to understand that it was the right decision.” Dobson also credits coming from a family of opera singers as a helping hand to her family understanding her true passion in life.
Now an artist with work in museum collections, such as Centennial Gallery, the Art Gallery of Windsor, the Portland Museum, and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, it’s clear that the right choice was made. However, Dobson disagrees with her passion being a ‘choice.’ “I didn’t choose to become an artist, it’s who I am,” Dobson explained. “I took my first pictures with an old Brownie camera when I was 10 years old. I baby-sat, cleaned houses and ran errands for people so that I could pay for film. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”
With such a strong background and belief in the fine arts, Dobson doesn’t believe in the stigma often attached to pursing a career in the arts world, and has suggested that these students are undervalued. “[Arts] students are creative and smart problem solvers, they find ways to make their own way in the world,” Dobson explained. “They are great assets to today’s economy, they don’t always rely on traditional ways of making a living.”
Though Dobson knows arts students should be valued, the University of Guelph Professor wants her students (and young artists in general) to do their part as well. “It’s not good enough to love your medium. Get up early and take advantage of the morning light. Learn to work through fatigue and cold,” Dobson said. “Never settle for ‘good enough.’ Good enough means that you could do better. Don’t wait for opportunities to come knocking at your door, because they probably won’t – go after them instead. Forge your own way – with conviction.”