Susanne Aaltonen (she/her) is a Canadian artist currently living and working in Calgary, Alberta. She received her BFA from the Alberta College of Art + Design (now Alberta University of the Arts) in 2016. In 2017 she was part of the Banff Artist in Residence for Emerging Artists at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her work is included in numerous private collections, and is a part of the permanent collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. She is represented by Paul Kuhn Gallery in Calgary, as well as Ashdale Gallery in North Vancouver.
My work explores the shifting relationship between inner growth and the spaces we move through—both physical and emotional. It sits in the tension between feeling submerged by the weight of external pressures and the lightness and clarity that comes when we allow ourselves to surface and breathe. At its core, it is a search for balance between those opposing forces: between clarity and confusion, lightness and weight, stillness and struggle.
Each piece traces a layer of this journey, from the depths of introspection, to the sensation of breaking through, and the moments of quiet peace that follows. The materials and techniques are carefully chosen to embody fluidity and contrast, creating a rhythm that mirrors life’s ebb and flow – sometimes overwhelming, yet ultimately sustaining.
Through this work, I invite viewers to reflect on their own rhythms of submersion and renewal, and to linger in the fragile yet necessary space of pause and release.
SUSANNE AALTONEN
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Coming up for air, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary AB
2021 a constant internal vibration, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary AB
2019 From Mustasaari, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary AB
2019 Susanne Aaltonen: Knowing How Little I Need Her Now, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, AB
2018 Dear Aino, Arts Commons, Calgary AB
2016 Home is No Longer Home, Marion Nicoll Gallery, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary AB
DUAL/GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Glint: Captured Memories, Ashdale Gallery, North Vancouver BC
2026 LOOK2026 Gala: Off the Path, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary AB
2026 Landscapes + such, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary AB
2019 LOOK2020, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary AB
2016 Hand Pic’d 2016, Barbara Edwards Contemporary, Calgary AB
2016 Did I tell you how I felt inside and out? (Sled Island 2016), Marion Nicoll Gallery, Alberta University of the Arts, Calgary AB
2016 From Here to There, New Edward Gallery, Calgary, AB
2016 National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) Site Visit Student Exhibition, Alberta University of the Arts, Calgary AB
2016 A Space Ship is Just a Time Machine, Untitled Contemporary Art, Calgary AB
2015 Community Show V, Alberta University of the Arts, Calgary AB
RESIDENCIES
2017 Banff Artist in Residence (BAiR) Emerging, The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Canada
EDUCATION
2016 Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction (Drawing Major), Alberta University of the Arts (previously Alberta College of Art and Design), Calgary, AB
SCHOLARSHIPS/AWARDS
2017 Flair Foundation Artist Award
2016 Board of Governors Graduating Student Award for Drawing, Calgary, AB
2016 ACAD Fourth Year Drawing Major Merit Scholarship, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary AB
2016 Ignac & Karla Herskovic Memorial Grad Show Prize, Calgary, AB
2016 BMO 1st Art! Prize Nominee, Canada
2015 Jason Lang Scholarship, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, AB
2015 ACAD Third Year Drawing Major Merit Scholarship, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary AB
2014 Jason Lang Scholarship, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, AB
PUBLISHED PROJECTS
2016 Aaltonen, Susanne. Do you remember? 2016. Print.
2014 Beaulieu, Derek. Re:Comp. No Press, 2014. 22-23. Print.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2019 The Cairn, "Susanne Aaltonen: Knowing How Little I Need Her Now", Anne Ewen, Volume 2 Issue 5
2019 Rocky Mountain Outlook, ""Banff's Whyte Museum puts on art exhibit surrounding themes of then and now", Alana Macleod
COLLECTIONS
Alberta Foundation for the Arts