Suzy Varty was born and educated in Newcastle upon Tyne, where she currently
lives and works.
Her comics have most recently been published in 'Fanny' and 'Girlfrenzy' in
England, 'Laaki' and 'Suuri Kurpitsa' in Finland, and 'Wimmins Comix'
in America.
She was first published in Street Comix from the Arts Lab Press in Birmingham
in 1976, and went on to compile, edit and contribute to the first British women's comic,
'Heroine', in 1977.
She has contributed to many exhibitions of comic art, most recently at the Amos Anderson
Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland, the Cartoon Art Gallery, San Francisco, U.S.A., the
20th Angouleme Salon International de la Bande Dessinee in France, the Amadora Comic
Art Festival in Portugal, and the Durham Art Gallery in Britain.
Suzy has also attended and spoken at comics festivals in Finland, France, Barcelona
and England, and was part of a comic artists delegation taking a 'History of the
Comics' exhibition to Murmansk in Russia in 1990.
It was after this visit to Russia that the seeds of a Newcastle Comic Art Festival
were sown, and Suzy now has an opportunity, during Visual Arts UK, to showcase and
celebrate the art of comics in the North East for a local, national and international
audience.
Suzy is currently organising this festival, which will take place in June 1996.
Suzy has also just completed a 40 ft x 10 ft comic on a billboard for the Tyne and
Wear Development Corporation on the riverside in the East end of Sunderland.
This will be on display from May 3rd for about a month.
