Sue Kreitzman Lives Inside Her Art at 85
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- Sue Kreitzman, 85 and originally from New York, only became an artist at 58 after a marker-drawn mermaid on a cookbook proof "took over" her life, ending her career as a cookbook author and TV chef.
- Her Mile End house is packed from top to bottom with pictures, sculptures and Egyptian busts — what she calls "an art installation she lives in" — curated by Jaime Freestone, who first emailed her seeking mentorship and is now one of her closest friends.
- Kreitzman has made hundreds, possibly more than a thousand, personalised neck shrines, with workshop drawers labelled "teeth" (real) and "eyeballs" (not).
- Her back-garden "Museum Shed," marked with a "drama queen" sign, houses a collection of bejewelled "goddess phones" she says let callers reach "something mystical" when they "really need help."
- Kreitzman swaps rather than sells her work, and mentee Anne-Sophie Cochevelou says visiting the house when uninspired leaves her "pumped up and refreshed and ready to make art."
- The home functions as a "safe space for people who are LGBT, people who are looking to be mentored," per curator Freestone, while Kreitzman's own mother once predicted she'd "grow out of" her love of colour.
Why it matters: At 85, Kreitzman's self-taught practice rejects both formal training and the commercial market — she swaps rather than sells — while her home doubles as a sanctuary for queer and emerging artists. Her refusal to "grow out of" her colour obsession, despite lifelong pushback from her mother, reframes aging as deepening rather than decline.
