BIOGRAPHY

STUDIO: 55 Great King Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6RP

Telephone: 0131 558 1405

e-mail: susieleiper@hotmail.com

Born in Scotland, 1955. Fellow of the SSI since 2006

Susie’s work encompasses both the traditional and the innovative. Three years as a scribe on Donald Jackson’s Saint John’s Bible, the first handwritten bible for over five hundred years, instilled in her a rigorous calligraphic discipline and put her at ease with quills and vellum. This skill has been put to further use in writing peerages for the Crown Office and a huge charter for the Middle Temple in London.

Susie’s own work is inspired by a love of all things Chinese: she invents scripts using the pointed Chinese brush, she writes and paints on Chinese paper, and Chinese poetry adorns her handmade Chinese-style artist’s books, hanging scrolls and handscrolls.

Born and brought up in Glasgow, Susie spent several years in Hong Kong and now lives and works in Edinburgh.

Commissions: Clients include CBBC, the British Museum, National Museums of Scotland, Unique Events, the Queen Mother’s Memorial Fund for Scotland, University of Edinburgh, and Slightly Foxed. Susie also participated in An Leabhar Mor, The Great Book of Gaelic

Exhibited: SSI Words as Images 2000; An Leabhar Mor (The Great Book of Gaelic), 2002; Alphabets at Work, Bampton, Oxfordshire, 2004; Pen and Print 1906-2006, London, 2006; pages of the Saint John’s Bible, V&A, London, and Museum of Bible Art, New York, 2006; Royal Scottish Academy annual exhibitions 2007, 2008

Publications: Susie’s work can be seen in The Scribe, no. 67 (1996); no. 80 (2005, cover); no. 82 (2007); no. 84 (2008); no. 85 (2008); Words as Images, SSI 2000; Pen and Print 1906 – 2006, SSI and the Edward Johnston Foundation, 2006; The Edge, 5:5 (2000); 6:1 (2000); 6:4 (2001); 7:1 (2001); 12:3 (2007); Living Letters, CLAS, 2004; Letter Arts Review, 22:3 (2008); An Leabhar Mor (The Great Book of Gaelic), Canongate Books 2002; The Saint John’s Bible, Prophets and Wisdom volumes; Slightly Foxed, no. 1 (2004); no. 13 (2007, cover).