Sue Briggs completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at the West Australian Institute of Technology in 1978 (now Curtin University) and in that year won the Channel 7 Young Artist’s Award. Her art practice at that stage was largely abstract colour field. The next few years saw her accepting commissions to paint the image for the cover of the book The Road to Prevelly by Geoff Edwards, and take part in a Margaret River calendar of vineyards.
She moved to Margaret River in 1980 and fully enmeshed herself in the stunning landscape, having been encouraged into painting en plein air by friend and artist Eveline Kotai. Sue participated in many mixed exhibitions at Gunyulgup Gallery and Yallingup Galleries. Her first solo exhibition in 1988 was held at the Fremantle Arts Centre and in the following year (also at FAC) participated in Our Town, Our Place- works on paper by sixteen regional artists. This was followed by more group exhibitions and two solo in 1996 at Margaret River Art Galleries and 1998 at Yallingup Gallery. Exhibiting at several galleries for over 20 years, in 2001 Sue moved to Perth temporarily to attend Curtin University and embarked on expanding her art practice with a Masters of Creative Art (completed 2003). With this return to University, her abstract roots reappeared notwithstanding a definitive landscape influence. After graduating she exhibited solo in 2003 and 2004 at free range Galleries, Subiaco, followed by another larger solo exhibition Fluid State held in 2007 at Heathcote Gallery & Museum in Applecross. After exhibiting in several mixed exhibitions, Sue later won the Cossack Art Award (Northwest Landscape Category) in 2007. She returned to Margaret River permanently after participating in a group exhibition Site Lines with Sue Grey Smith and Patricia Hines at the Contemporary Art Space Mandurah (CASM). In 2017, Sue was invited to participate in the 50th Anniversary Wine Label Art Exhibition, held at Cape Mentelle vineyard. In September 2018, she joined fifteen other artists of Baltic heritage in a group exhibition KOPA at the Moores Building Contemporary Art Space in Fremantle. This is the sixth time Sue has been involved with the Margaret River Open Studios event and is looking forward to welcoming visitors to her studio. “If I can engage the viewer to find their own meaning, I feel then I have achieved something more than just a picture. It’s always a plus to generate exploration of ones own imagination.”