ABOUT
Seaweed Queen Art by Susan Brady
I am a Richmond, CA-based abstract painter, collage artist, and photographer blending a background in marine botany with a lifelong passion for modern art.
My work uses vibrant colors, water movement, and rich, layered textures to explore the concepts of transformation and stillness. Inspired by everything from the ocean and weathered wood to geologic formations and open windows, I create organic, multi-layered pieces that celebrate points of calm within the world's constant state of change.
WHERE I FIND INSPIRATION
THE OCEAN
The sea is my first love, a place where I find stillness within motion and peace within turbulence. As a marine scientist, I am fascinated by the ocean’s rhythms and infinite diversity. I use water directly in my abstract process to rearrange pigment, soften boundaries, reveal layers, and create unexpected possibilities. For me, water is both material and metaphor—a reminder to trust movement, embrace uncertainty, and remain open to what emerges, read more.
CIRCLES
Circles inspire me as symbols of wholeness, unity, and infinity. Found throughout nature, life, and spiritual traditions, they embody balance, movement, and continuity. In my art, imperfect and overlapping circles create a beautiful, contained chaos, while sometimes serving as portals into deeper layers of the painting, read more.
WEATHERED SURFACES
I am drawn to the beauty of things marked by time—rusted metal, peeling paint, weathered wood, and surfaces shaped by years of use and exposure. I love the scars, layers, and imperfections that reveal a history and show how materials interact with the world around them. Like people, objects become more interesting when they carry evidence of having lived. These weathered surfaces inspire my love of texture and my desire to build layers, marks, and traces of experience into my art, read more.
DOORWAYS AND WINDOWS
Doorways and windows draw me toward the quiet possibility of what lies just beyond the visible—an opening into somewhere not yet known. In my art, I follow that feeling through layers that veil and reveal, forms that drift in and out of view, and spaces that invite the eye to wander. I am drawn to the moment when something familiar becomes an invitation to imagine, when a glimpse suggests a world still unfolding.
NATURAL STONE
Stone fascinates me as a record of the Earth’s imagination. Unexpected textures, colors, lines, and patterns—each one shaped by forces and processes far beyond our control. No two are ever alike; every surface is a singular composition, created over immense spans of time. I am drawn to the beauty of these natural abstractions and the feeling of discovering something extraordinary that was already there.
OTHER ARTISTS
I am inspired by artists—those whose work I discover in museums and across time, and those whose creativity I am fortunate enough to share in my own community. They open doors to ideas I might never have imagined on my own, while the generosity of fellow artists gives me the courage to experiment, take risks, and follow unexpected paths. This reminds me that art is something that grows through connection, curiosity, and joyful collaboration, read more.
Process, inspiration, and the odd tangent — I write about it all in my blog, Thoughts.
ARTIST CV
Painting and Drawing Courses. Contra Costa College, San Pablo CA. 2024-2026.
PhD, Marine Botany. University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley CA. 1979-1985.
BS, Biological Sciences. University of Southern California, Los Angeles CA. 1975-1979.
EDUCATION
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Instructor, The Little Art Shop Studio, Benicia CA. 2026.
Selected Artist, "Art in Bloom" Floral Interpretation, Benica Art Festival, Benicia CA. 2026.
Member, Firehouse Art Collective Studio, Point Richmond CA. 2025-present.
Member, The Little Art Shop Artist Collective, Benicia CA. 2025-present.
Member, Pinole Artisans, Pinole CA. 2025-present.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Annual Art Fair, Berkeley, CA. 2025, 2026.
Richmond Open Studios, Firehouse Arts Collective, Richmond CA. 2025, 2026.
East Bay Open Studios, Oakland Art Murmur, Oakland CA. 2025, 2026.
Member, Visual Artists of Richmond, Richmond CA. 2024-present.
Member, Arts of Point Richmond, Point Richmond CA. 2024-present.
Member, El Cerrito Art Association, El Cerrito CA. 2024-present
EXHIBITIONS
SOLO
“Emergence” - First Presbyterian Church Geneva Gallery, Berkeley CA. 2025.
First Place Award, Sculptural Forms; Honorable Mention, Mixed Media. El Cerrito Art Association Annual Art Show, Juried Entry - El Cerrito Community Center, El Cerrito CA. 2026.
“Where Light and Color Sing” - ar*ti*fact gallery, Point Richmond CA. With Lenore Stormes. 2026.
“Cheerful Waiting” - El Cerrito DMV, El Cerrito CA. El Cerrito Art Association Group Exhibit. 2026.
“Flowers and Flow” - ar*ti*fact gallery, Point Richmond CA. With Irina Yastremski. 2026.
Honorable Mention Award: “Flower” - Teravarna International Juried Online Exhibition, teravarna.com. 2026.
“Made in Richmond” - Richmond Art Center, Richmond CA. Visual Artists of Richmond Group Exhibit. 2025, 2026.
East Bay Open Studios Opening Exhibit. Berkeley CA. 2025, 2026.
Arts of Point Richmond Member Show, Lara’s Fine Dining, Richmond CA. 2025, 2026.
“Red, Blue, Yellow” - Juried Exhibit, Art Works Downtown, San Rafael CA. 2025.
“Into the Blue, Into the Wild” - West Side Branch Public Library, Point Richmond CA. With Luna Ruth Paesch. 2025.
“Gardenia” - Exhibizone Online Juried Exhibition, exhibizone.com. 2025.
El Cerrito Art Association Annual Art Show, Juried Entry - El Cerrito Community Center, El Cerrito CA. 2024, 2025, 2026.