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The Artist as Art

The Artist as Art

Susanna Blunt is a Canadian portrait artist who designed the most recent portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the current Canadian coinage, which began in 2003. She was born in Harbin, China, the daughter of an English banker. Blunt started her studies at the Banff School of Fine Arts as a young teenager. After finishing high school in 1958 at Queen Margaret's School she had a year of private lessons in Victoria, British Columbia. She moved to London, England and did four years of art school, then won a scholarship to the Royal Academy for another four years, during which she won several awards and a silver medal.The following year she worked with Yoko Ono. She became known for her trompe l'oeil paintings and designed the optical illusion room for the Science World museum in Vancouver in 1988.Blunt created the image from a photograph of the Queen. She won the competition and her portrait of the Queen has been used on Canadian coins and currency in Great Britain and the Commonwealth from 2003 - 2014