About - Susanna Clasby

My current work is inspired by mesmerizing, life affirming murmurations. The movement, rhythm and feeling of the ‘dance of the starlings’ captivates me. I visit beautiful RSPB Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath nature reserves regularly during winter to experience them. I feel that murmurations can be metaphors for life and by working with them I contemplate themes such as flow, complex simplicity, intuition, joy and survival.

After years as an illustrator, I am intrigued to be making abstract art. My background influences how I work, drawing with stitch from sketch to refined piece. I currently use paper rather than fabric as the base, creating pieces that are equivalent to fine art prints and produced in small editions. How the embroidery sits on the paper, the perforations made by the needle as well as the colour of the paper and thread, all play their part.

The first murmuration pieces were exhibited in October 2023, two were shortlisted for the RA Summer Exhibition 2024, Murmuration 16a was selected for the RWA Annual Open 2024 and Dancing was selected for the RWA Paper Works Biennial 2025.

I studied history at Balliol College Oxford then worked in design and marketing in London and Bristol, before retraining as an Illustrator at the University of the West of England (UWE). I have taught digital embroidery part time at UWE since 2012 and have been making my own fine art embroideries since the summer of 2023.