Susan Foxlee of Suki & Hugh Gallery. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Susan Foxlee, the owner of Bungendore’s Suki and Hugh Gallery, has painted the walls of her gallery the same colour around 120 times over the past 10 years.
It might seem like an obsessive commitment to white, but the practice is necessary to facilitate the four-week rotation of exhibitions that Susan has maintained for a decade.
Situated on a leafy stretch of Gibraltar Street, Suki & Hugh opened in 2015 and showcases local and interstate artists specialising in a wide range of mediums, from glass and ceramic to painting, drawing and sculpture.
Although nicely settled into village life now and with the gallery an important piece of the region’s tourism puzzle, Susan and her husband, Sam Cooper took a huge risk to build a custom facility for a business that didn’t yet exist and in a town in which they had never lived.
“I think you’ve got to be a bit stupid; the really smart people don’t do things like this because they know. If we knew, we wouldn’t have done it, as there were times that it was too hard. But once you’re in it, you can’t back out,” Susan says, laughing.
The process of council approvals and the eventual build was a four-year journey, one that at times, Susan says, broke them.
“We had a totally different facade designed originally and the council sat on it for nine months and then rejected it. We thought we were waiting for an approval, and it was a total redo; that was really demoralising.”
Suki & Hugh Gallery sits behind street trees on Bungendore’s Gibraltar Street. Photo: Supplied.
The design that was approved and now feels like a part of the town that has always been there, features large shop windows set into a Sydney sandstone facade that speaks the same language as other buildings in the street, like the historic Royal Hotel, which has a two-storey exposed stone wall overlooking the gallery from the western side.
Anyone who has moved to a small town can attest, it isn’t easy to slide into village life, especially if you are changing the face of a street packed full of heritage buildings.
“It was daunting at first, opening in a small town; I felt like I was in a fishbowl, and I got a lot of anxiety about it,” Susan says.
The fishbowl effect now plays into Susan’s hands, and she regularly finds hand and nose prints smudged on the glass as people peer through the window to enjoy the art after hours.
It’s a thought that lights Susan up and reminds her of a candy store window and conjures up memories of window shopping in the city with her parents on a Friday night.
The street presence of her exhibitions is something Susan keeps front of mind when she is designing her layouts, and much of the art that Susan showcases is like candy; brightly coloured glass pieces are dotted around on plinths with a backdrop of expansive paintings of landscapes that you can immerse yourself in.
Inside the south-facing gallery, which is tucked behind street trees, is a surprisingly light-filled space, and Susan says the indirect light is intentional.
“The light rakes across the walls and is so even, there’s no direct light; it’s perfect for the art.”
Susan’s gallery offers a minimalist simplicity that showcases the art. Photo: Supplied.
Susan has a warm, quiet way about her that is so fitting to the gallery, almost as if it was designed to complement her personality.
Standing in front of Cove, by Sydney artist Gary Martin, Susan gets a little distant and says, “You can just get lost in that.” And she’s right. The deep midnight blue of the water meeting an endless sky feels like something you can and should step into.
With a four-week rotation, Susan has featured a lot of artists over the past decade, and while hesitant to choose a favourite, she does have a shortlist of memorable exhibitions.
“One of my favourites was Jo Victoria; she was doing her master’s when we first saw her work. She does this fine, fine porcelain. She hung a massive metal ring from the ceiling, and she threaded porcelain shards to it, and it gently spun on its own in the front of the gallery.”
Now booking her artist slots a full year ahead, Susan leverages the network that she’s built over the years, but getting to that point, she says, has been a learning curve, and their initial call out to artists was met with silence, and they had to refine a new approach.
“We started approaching people that we were interested in, looking around at art prizes and group shows, and when we started asking people, amazingly, they said yes.
“We have built such an amazing network of people now, but it took time.”
You never know what might be through Suki & Hugh’s front window. Photo: Supplied.
A part of the learning curve was how particular artists are when their work is displayed, Susan says.
“Early on we learnt we had to have a very high standard and that we were essentially working for those people, not the other way around.
“The level of detail comes down to the smallest things, like the size of the number next to the art was of concern to one artist. I take those things on as a challenge; that’s something I needed to learn.”
Bungendore’s gallery scene recently suffered a huge loss with the closure of the Wood Works Gallery after 40 years in the town. An occurrence that Susan reflects is happening across the industry with people spending less across the board.
“Beaver Galleries, a Canberra institution of nearly 50 years, has closed, two long standing galleries in Braidwood have closed, and the Wood Works is a massive loss to Bungendore.”
Without the Wood Works Gallery, Susan is still positive about the industry in Bungendore and says the galleries are all very different and complement each other, offering a vibrant experience to locals and visitors to the region.
Suki & Hugh Gallery is located at 38A Gibraltar Street, Bungendore. You can find out more on its website.
