Suzanne Shifflett

I grew up in Maine as the second child of four to a single mother. We lived at my grandmother’s house. Though there were strict social rules of what a girl could or couldn't do, or be and couldn't be, my grandmother was the matriarch of this household.

Being dyslexic, I really had a hard time in school except for art class. In high school I took my required classes and then spent the rest of the day in the art room. I signed up for a mentorship program to help with the applications for college. I felt as if to become an artist I would need to go to art school. Through scholarships and loans, I managed to make it through four years of undergraduate studies. While in school I was drawn to the punk counter culture scene, because it fit so well with my feeling of being an outsider. My art in turn reflected those feelings.

I had been out as a lesbian since my high school years, but I didn’t have a queer community as support. That quickly changed upon moving to San Francisco California in 1988. My art went from making distorted male forms into painting empowered female forms. This had a lot to do with my freedom to be out and express my queerness. When I painted male forms, I was painting about self-identification, and when I paint...

Education;
Laguna College of Art and Design; MFA, Laguna Beach, CA. 2016 - 2018
Tattoo Artist Apprenticeship under Wayne Bruce Lee; SF, CA. 1989 - 1990
Maine College of Art; BFA, Portland, Maine. 1984 -1987
Parsons School of Design; New York, NY. 1983 -1984

Solo Shows;
Performative Identities; Strut Gallery, San Francisco CA. Sept, 2018
A Dyke at Tom’s House; Tom of Finland Foundation, Los Angles CA. May – July 2017
The Realm of The Senses; Austin Law Group, San Francisco CA. Sept – Nov 2015
The Sum of All Its Parts; Sin City Gallery, Las Vegas NV. Sept- Nov 2014
Titans, Gorgons, and Punished Gods; Flazh! Alley Studios, San Pedro CA. April - May
2010
People and Places; Advocate & Gochis Galleries at the Gay & Lesbian Center; LA, CA.
June - Aug 2008
Inked Hearts, Flazh!Alley Studios; San Pedro, CA. Dec 2007
Paintings of S. M. Shifflett; Aalto Lounge; Portland, OR. June 2003
Intimate Portraits; Good Vibrations; SF, CA. Jan 2002

Group Shows;
Emerging Masters; Laguna Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA, 2017
12 Inches of Sin; Sin City Gallery, Las Vegas, NV, 2014 and 15
Artspan Juried Art Auction; Artspan, San Francisco, CA, 2015
Rochester Erotic Arts Festival; Rochester, NY. 2013
The Dirty Show; Detroit MI. March 2013
Erotic Arts Events; San Francisco, CA, Sept. 2011 and 12
National Masturbation Month; Femina Potence; SF, CA. May 2008
Seattle Erotic Arts Festival; Seattle, WA. March 2002
At the Mercy of Others; The Politics of Care; Whitney Museum Fellows/CUNY Art
Gal...