Artist Bio

Susan Li O’Connor was born in Taipei, Taiwan. For the past 25 years, she has been navigating themes surrounding identity, consumerism, and consumption within American culture through the accumulation of everyday objects and the transformation of them into drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations. As a first generation immigrant and naturalized citizen, she attempts to create direct and indirect connections with her themes to her own identity. Her most recent works investigate how place and space connect to her main themes of identity, consumerism, and consumption. Working primarily in mixed media (collage, acrylic, oil pastels) for her latest series serves as a way for her to untangle the daily barrage of news that fill our airways.

O’Connor holds a BFA degree from the Columbus College of Art and Design and an MFA degree from the Ohio State University. She is a recipient of the Greater Columbus Arts Council 2013 Dresden, Germany Artist in Residency program, Highlights Foundation In-Person Artist Workshop and Retreat program, Cleveland Institute of Art Summer Teacher Residency program, and has served in various juror roles for the Ohio Arts Council. Her work has been exhibited nationally in Ohio, Colorado, California, North Carolina, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania. She is based in Columbus, Ohio, where she lives with her husband and son.