Born in 1915, in Port Arthur, (now Thunder Bay), Ontario. She devoted her artistic career to painting Inuit and Aboriginal people, depicting life in remote northern villages. An important leader in the Thunder Bay art scene for over 50 years,she was well known for her paintings and coloured intaglio prints. On a trip to Northwestern Ontario, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson invested her with the Order of Canada.
In the 1960s, Susan Ross met Norval Morrisseau. By this time, Ross had devoted many years to painting, but this meeting caused her to rethink her artistic focus. She became interested in exploring the relationship of the northern peoples to the land. Morrisseau encouraged her to sketch scenes from daily life at Gull Bay. From that time, she ventured north to many reserve communities to learn more about Native culture there. She went as far as to learn some of the language to better understand the people she was portraying. Ross visited and sketched in Big Trout Lake, Sandy Lake, north of the Arctic Circle, and beyond. Ross' images portrayed a richness of life but also the hardship endured by the Aboriginal people of Northwestern Ontario and the far North during the 1960s and '70s.
Upon awarding Susan Ross with the Order of Canada in 2001, Gov. Gen. Clarkson spoke of Ross as a mentor, and source of encouragement to many artists. Ross was influential in the careers of Carl Ray and Daphne Odjig, whose first public exhibition was mounted by Ross in 1967. Her works hang in many public collections, including Confederation College in Thunder Bay. Through her paintings, she shared images of a strong Inuit people with the rest of the country. Susan Ross passed away in 2006.
