Susan Pellaers was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1969, but has resided in Metro Vancouver since the early 90’s. A recent graduate from the Fine Arts program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, her art practice centres around re-examining her “mature-student” knowledge of life and processing it through modernistic techniques of artmaking, resulting in works that are essential contributions to the dialogue around society’s trajectory into the future.

Tapping into society’s stream of consciousness by watching daily news programs and reading non-fiction publications, Pellaers explores the complexities within the day-to-day of human existence such as urbanization/homelessness; social media/personal privacy; and the fragility of human rights. As a multi-medium artist, her artwork has been informed by the writings and artworks of fellow “Gen Xer”, Douglas Coupland, whose practice encourages audience interaction on a conceptual plane. She creates installations utilizing found objects which re-purpose concrete notions into abstract concepts, using their emotional dialogue as an art medium.

Many of her works utilize photo transfer to meld art technique with real-world images. Capturing snapshots of life through her own photography or sourcing material from the internet (such as news articles, Go-Fund-Me pages, and Google Maps), she transfers the images onto everyday objects using photocopies whose ink soaks into an un-tinted acrylic medium. This fusing of connotations held within the pictures and the objects creates an undertow of unease as the viewer’s emotional connection with life experiences engage with the conversation of the art piece, inviting the viewer to reflect on themselves as an active member of society.

Pellaers incorporates audio and/or video into some of her installations, especially those that explore the realm of Artificial Intelligence. Physical elements of the technologies that shape our contemporary lives are integrated into her pieces, such as recording a conversation with Amazon’s cloud-based voice AI service, “Alexa”; this intensified aspect of “lived experience” elevates the viewer’s emotional investment in the discussion. An altered state of awareness in the audience is what the artist aims to achieve.

Interaction within the community has always been paramount for Pellaers and she has incorporated that aspect into her art practice by participating as a guest speaker and art project coordinator for a grade 12 class at North Surrey Secondary School in 2024.

Besides showing her work in many exhibitions at the KPU campus as a member of the KPU Arts Collective, Susan has had work shown in the Art Council of Surrey’s juried show Arts2023 (placing 3rd in painting); twice in the Langley Art Council’s juried show artSpacific; the Turnbull Gallery in Surrey; and in the Richmond Art Coalition’s juried show ArtRich 2025. Her piece, Out of Stock (2023) was shown at the Wake-Up Social Justice Music Festival (2023) at KPU, Surrey. A video interview with participating artists can be viewed here. Susan’s portions at 0:06, 0:30, 1:03 & 4:12.