HUDSON

Susan Mary Hudson (née Illsley) died peacefully among family and friends on March 2, 2026.

Born in Montreal in 1941, she was the daughter of the late Hugh Percival (“Pete”) Illsley and the late Lilias Illsley. Susan was a rarity among women of her time, working as an illustrator before delving deeper into the fine arts. By the seventies, she had become an established fixture within the Montreal art scene, with regular exhibitions of etchings, paintings and drawings.

Her art was a rich composite of buried treasures drawn forth from the subconscious, often inspired by the secret gardens of children’s literature of centuries past.

With boundless energy and enthusiasm, Susan loved people and working with them. A keen educator, she served as Chairperson of the Department of Design at Concordia University and taught at several institutions.

Upon retirement, Susan moved to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, a place she had visited some years previously and with which had become instantly enchanted, both for its physical beauty and the nature of its inhabitants. There she co-founded the cooperative Peer Gallery on Lincoln Street and was its first President. She also became deeply involved in the Lunenburg School of the Arts, as well as local governance. In 1999, she was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

Outside, she practiced her love of myriad patterns and tapestry as an avid gardener, rendering the staid bolts of lawn around her home into swaying sculptures of vibrant colour. Her home became a place of joy, of purpose in life, and somewhere friends loved to drop in to say ‘hi’.

Susan is survived by her twin sister Penny, by her sons Michael and David, her daughter-in-law Michael’s wife Chloe, and by her grandchildren Ben and Tess.

Arrangements are entrusted to the Dana L. Sweeny Funeral Home, 11213 Hwy 3, Lunenburg.

A celebration of life will be held in May in conjunction with Peer Gallery’s retrospective of her work. Please consult the obituary page at Sweeny Funeral Home https://www.sweenyfuneralhome.ca/book-of-memories/5693210/Hudson-Susan/index.php at a later date or email susanmemorial@hudsonsathome.com to be added to the mailing list.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Lunenburg School of the Arts.