Sue Cannon

Explorer I Launched

1 December 1958

Susan Elizabeth Cannon born in Melbourne, Australia, to Dr K J Cannon, a chemical engineer and his wife Ann Puddy, who had been a nurse at Addenbrooks, Cambridge in England.

African Countries gain independence

16 July 1960

Brother Jeffrey born.

President Kennedy Assassinated

27 February 1963

Sister Mary born.

June 1963

The family arrives in Turkey, where Professor Cannon is to teach for the UN at the Middle East University in Ankara, for the next 12 months.

September 1963

Sue begins primary school in Turkey.

The Beatles In America

June 1964

The family returns to Melbourne. Although still only 5, Sue jumps a couple of years in school because of her start in Ankara.

Che Guevera Killed in Bolivia

1967

At 8-years-old Sue has the first ‘love’ of her own age, one that is to set the tone for the value she places on friendship throughout her life: “She was Karina, Latvian and just gorgeous, and I decided at that stage that friendship was the greatest treasure.”

Martin Luther King Assassinated

December 1968

Family moves to Sydney. The 9-year-old Sue and Karina stay in touch by letter, but Sue has to cope with primary school in Northbridge, a wealthy suburb.

Salvador Allende becomes President of Chile

February 1970

Sue begins high school in Sydney at just 11-years-old. “Willoughby Girls High had a bad reputation. It was the only school for miles around that would take girls from the local Remand Home. I was too young: the others were 12 or 13, and I felt terribly lonely. In fact I often cried myself to sleep at night that first year.”

Bangladesh is created

1971 - 1972

Sue has braces on her teeth: “I went around grinning a lot. Think that was very good for me.”

Chile's president Allende is overthrown

December 1973

“When I was 15, to my astonishment, my Parents let me go away at the end of the School Certificate exams, with some school friends, to Huskisson (NSW South Coast resort). She causes quite a scene in a see-through frock and has her first 'fling' with a man of 26 - who treated her with respect. But...

President Nixon Resigns

January 1974

Sue returns to school ‘wild, cheeky and naughty’ after her holiday adventure and decides to focus on her art:

Civil War In Lebanon

October 1975

At 16, Sue sits her Higher School Certificate examinations. She achieves second place overall in the state-wide Art examination. Her painting, ‘The Dressing Room’, goes on a state-wide exhibition tour today known as the ‘Art Express’.

1.5 million year old Homo erectus skull discoved

March 1976

Enrols at Sydney College of the Arts, in its foundation year. “My career options had been Journalism, Landscape Architecture and Graphic Design. I decided graphic design was the power to change society – which was why I chose to study it. The use of colour and abstract imagery give a poster the ability to provoke immediate emotional responses.”

April 1976

Sue meets Karina again: “I was a disco queen and she was a hippy jazz trombonist. We went on the Manly ferry. I was wishing for more sun and she wasn’t fussed - and that was the last time I saw her.”

US gives up Panama Canal

May 1977

Sue leaves home, quickly, in response to family problems.
She trains as a barmaid: “The only job I could get - and worked my way through college as a topless barmaid. And I began to drink. Starting with cocktails and working my way down the scale.”

8-year Iran-Iraq War begins

October 1980

Almost at the end of her Degree course Sue decides to give up:
“I was in trouble. Wasn’t getting enough sleep, living on coffee and alcohol, with a very heavy school workload.”
Sue shows a series of paintings in her ‘Swagging in the Modern Age’ series, at a College of the Arts exhibition in the MLC Centre, downtown Sydney.
“They were very well received. But, I was drunk on the day I should have been taking the names of collectors who were interested in my work – and blew that opportunity.”

First woman on US Supreme Court

1981

Sue contributes to a community mural on a wall along the Crescent in Sydney’s Annandale, which remains to this day – with several touch-ups over the years. This was the first of several she painted on public and private property around inner-city Sydney. “I became focussed on using acrylic paints – basically house paints using the three primary colours, white and black – and also explored stencils, including some placards for one of the peace marches of the time.

1981 - 1982

‘Done in’ by years of partying, Sue becomes strongly suicidal: “I was miserable, suffered a bout of meningitis, thankfully mild. I was working in the Collage art materials shop, living in Balmain. Later, I moved to Leichhardt and found studio space in Surry Hills, around the corner from Matthew Talbot hostel (for homeless men). That was the first time I ever had contact with ‘real artists'.”

Death of Tennessee Williams

1983

Sue moved to Alpha House, a major artists’ colony in an old multi-storey building on the main street of inner-Sydney's Newtown. “That was the only place I lived with the sound of machineguns going off within earshot of the house and brawls at the (local) Marlborough hotel.
During this time, Sue takes part in a group show, with other artists in the commune.

1 December 1983

Sue’s 25th birthday was spent in Casino, on the Northern NSW coast. “I was living in a dairy made of red cedar, which had six legs, only one of which was attached to the ground. I shaved all my hair off.”

Indira Ghandi Murdered

1984

Sue Joins a group singing world music, ‘Blind Man’s Holiday’. “I found I had a talent for composing harmonies."

Rainbow Warrior Sunk

21 August 1985

Sue moves to a 10-sided dome, on a commune at Kyogle, on the far north coast of NSW – just after the birth of sister Mary’s child Daniel. “I led a country hippy trend – my head was half-shaved and several of the guys cut their hair as well – until they realised I was actually female.”

Nuclear Disaster At Chernobyl

December 1986

Sue takes her “first real job” - offered by a former college lecturer, now graphic designer for millionaire Dick Smith’s ‘Australian Geographic’ magazine.
“From the north coast, I started creating a poster about evolution – using water colours. For a bit of light relief I would do some cattle work or swim in the Nymboida river. I was still drinking too much.”
She later moves on, to work on book illustrations for Readers Digest.

The first plutonium pacemaker is made

July 1988

After several blackouts and answering a quiz, Sue realises she is an alcoholic. Shortly after, she attends her first AA meeting.

Berlin Wall Comes Down

February 1989

Sue begins a year-long Australian Outback tour with her partner, in a Toyota troop carrier, equipped with a canvas canopy. Sue uses the trip to complete a series of stencilled landscapes.

Nelson Mandela Freed

March 1990

Sue goes to work with Redback Graphics, which produces political posters for aboriginal community causes. “After a while, the work decreased and the company could not keep me on. But while it lasted it was good for my confidence and for the bank balance as well.”

Dissolution of the USSR

1991 - 1992

Sue works for the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia’s major daily newspaper. “The job was for a scraperboard artist. I knew what a scraperboard was, bought some boards and tools, knocked up five pictures and instead took a job in the graphics department - but accepted only part time work. Computerisation was coming in and the Herald had state of the art equipment.

1991

Sue completes a series of murals in the Devonshire Street tunnel of Sydney’s Central railway station – free ‘visual busking’ that lasts 16 years before being painted over. As a result of that work, Sue is commissioned to paint another mural – paid this time - in the station’s Eddy Avenue shopping precinct.

1992

Sue begins working in a series of positions with various government departments: “Mainly the Forestry Commission but also some work for the Tourist Commission, National Parks and Wildlife service, Drug and Alcohol Authority. I worked on a mixture of diagrams, maps and illustrations.”

Taliban takes control of Afghanistan

January 1996

Moves to the Blue Mountains, 80km west of central Sydney. Here she enjoys bush-walking, drawing. And begins painting once more.

Northern Ireland Peace process

October 1998

Sue meets a former neighbour in a ballroom dancing course – who offers her a position in her own business, Canfield Business Design, as a graphic designer working on brochures for the hospitality industry, as well as newspaper advertising.

Impeachment trial of President Clinton

1 December 1999

Now 40 Sue feels life is beginning to make sense “in a way that it never had before.
“I get a sense of self worth now from the ability to share what I have learnt during the years of recovery. Although my life might not appear to be terribly successful, by my own benchmarks, I can feel good about myself.”

December 2001

After her parents astonish her with a cash bequest, which supplements her own savings, Sue is able to Move into her own place - complete with studio - in Lawson, still in the Blue Mountains.

April 2007

Sue is continuing to work mainly with acrylic ‘house’ paint – for paintings and stencil prints, but also exploring pastels. “I don’t think I have quite the confidence I had at 16, working with mixed media. But I’m hoping the confidence will keep coming back - possibly with a different style.

A Cup of Tea With Sue Cannon
Sue talks about her life and her art