Daily Inspiration: Meet Susan Woods

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Susan Woods.

Hi Susan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I have always been artistic, starting with classical piano at five and then morphing into the visual arts after high school.

Choosing to attend art schools for many years, studying in Paris, France, NYC, Philadelphia, PA, and Boston, MA, gave me an equivalent of a specialized trade school, which, for me, was the best way to learn my craft along with meeting and learning from very, unique teachers from many parts of the world with backgrounds that brought to their teaching many techniques and ways of seeing.

This unusual education has given me the background for pursuing many international commissions with confidence using a plethora of materials, both fine art and design/craft/functional art. I have worked with high-end designers and very well-known/respected architects, making all sorts of objects/pieces/ installations for places in the US and abroad. Luckily, I have been featured in over 100 editorials, TV programs, and videos. Moving from NYC four years ago to Tucson, AZ is giving me another learning experience about the area, which, in my opinion, is dominated by the history of the Native peoples, the Spanish, the Mexicans, and the contemporary interpretations of traditions born in that history.

Working P/T for a patron of the American Indian Arts, I have had the chance to become more intimate with this culture. I was attracted to the Southwest through my work as a sculptor. I am extremely interested in symbols that communicate, including land art, petroglyphs, rock paintings, and all types of visual ways in which the ancients, or those who have come before, have recorded their paths or reached out to the skies.

The Southwest is vibrant with these objects and filled with an aura of mystery, myth, and fable. The influence of this area has affected my artwork very much and has provided me with different opportunities I would not have had in the Northeast or Europe. Let’s see where this all takes me!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. What can you tell our readers who might not be as familiar with your work?
I like sculpture and drawing. I consider sculptural language to be a vast one and do not limit my practice to one subject or another. I find working the entire spectrum of object-making most interesting, offering chances to learn, expand, and challenge my comfort level. Therefore, I make furniture, home furnishings, fine art, craft objects, and installations. I believe this makes my work unique.

I became well-known for my high-end design art, or functional art, and had the luck of being selected internationally for editorials about this work, as well as TV programming and videos. My fine art has also had attention for its originality. I would say that I am most proud of this word, “originality,” for all of what I do. That we all use the history of what has come before makes us users of and dependent on those whose unique-ness gives them placement in our known, common history. So, really, my work is not wholly new; it is simply a derivative. However, I take pride in the freedom of expression that I follow due to the comfort level I have as a master craftswoman.

Using the traditions of our common histories, too, provides the jumping board to fly into different realms. As a fine artist working the 3D gamut, drawing from nature, and creating narrative stories in sculpture and on paper, I make fun of the search for in-depth knowledge. There are many languages in the art field. I believe the attention that my work has gained is the result of my use and mixture of these dialects.

How do you think about luck?
Good luck has played a large role in both my personal life and professional life. Of course, I also worked hard to achieve and to be in certain places. However, without beneficial, chance meetings, things would have been different and, maybe, just as good. I would not describe difficulties as bad luck.

As a gambler in life, being a bit impractical, I would say I have had a lot of forward movement that I wished for and some surprises in that direction. In some of the trying times, I think of lessons to be learned. Being fortunate to have been born and living in this country and not in one with extreme hardship gives me the impression that I have had a lot of fortune by chance.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.aswoon.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sus_woods/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=aswoon%2Fsusan%20woods
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/UhJ2p5gldNg
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUTUWLaUm7k&t=53s

Image Credits
Kris Graves and David Britton