About Susan Wolf

Susan Wolf is a multidisciplinary artist. She creates dance-based performance, objects, and animation.

Wolf’s animations stem from a self-taught process that combines photo manipulation, paper cut-outs, drawing, and stop motion. Her work is physical, created primarily by-hand and under-camera. The animations are narratives of resilience, vulnerability, struggle, and adversity loosely drawn from real-life stories. Absurd, morbid, and playful imagery feature prominently. Her current research focuses on animating through a choreographic lens. 

More recently, Wolf has been choreographing live performance, developing movement scores, and collaborating with musicians and dancers. She draws deeply from methods of improvisation, dance, and movement training (Butoh, contact improv, contemporary western forms, Kathak, yoga, capoeira).

Wolf’s practice is informed by previous study and work as a medical anthropologist. She earned a BFA in Fine Arts from NSCAD and a BA in Humanistic Studies (Political Science of Developing Areas) with minors in Social Studies of Medicine and Art History from McGill University. Wolf also apprenticed through the National Film Board of Canada’s Hothouse program (Montreal, PQ). She has participated in residencies in the US and Canada, including at BANFF Centre for the Arts, the Atlantic Centre for the Arts (New Smyrna Beach FL), Project: Space Available (Seattle, WA), and the Toronto Animation Image Society. Recent professional awards include grants from the Canada Council, the National Film Board of Canada’s Filmmakers Assistance Program, and Nova Scotia Arts Grants to Individuals. Her work has been presented at screenings and in galleries in Canada and abroad. Wolf has also contributed to the Arts sector through participation on the board of Directors for a variety of not-for-profits including Fado Performance Art Centre. 

In 2017, Wolf relocated from the salty shores of Halifax to Toronto where she works as the Accessibility Manager for the Toronto Fringe Festival and as an Accessibility Consultant for a variety of clients. From 2017-2020, Wolf also worked as an Arts Educator at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Wolf is currently taking a temporary leave from her art practice in order to pursue a Masters in Design for Health at OCAD University.