About Susan Shaffer
Exploration and evolution have been the strengths of Susan’s creative works since her beginning as a ceramic art student in high school. The daughter of a painter and physicist, she inherited an out-of-the-box perspective at an early age.
Chicago-born Susan attended high school near New York City, where she crossed paths with clay in an elective course. It was love at first touch, and with college and her future before her, it was clear that art would be her calling. In 1973 she was accepted into one of the top schools in the field, Alfred University College of Ceramic Art in upstate New York, where she was exposed to not only clay but a wide range of fine arts as well.
After college Susan’s life took a turn to other worldly experiences, including marriage and a move to Captiva, Florida, in 1975. It was here that her first independent studio was built, and her pottery sales supplemented her bread-and-butter employment in the business world. Four years later, she island-hopped to Boca Grande, Florida where Susan was hired by a local sculptor to set up a pottery studio and shop on the island. Soon roots were put down, a house was purchased, and the birth of two children followed.
Clay work requires long sequences of time, which is hard to achieve when young ones are on board, so Susan turned to papermaking, creating wall-hung pieces, and experimenting with photo image transfers. This coincided with another birth, of an island organization now known as the Boca Grande Art Center. As a founding member, Susan has served as a director and officer for many years, and she continues as an active Exhibiting Artist and Board Member today.
In 2001, with the children grown, a new island studio was built and Susan moved back into clay. The view was different this time, though. Her traditional vessels were adorned with encaustic monotypes and her clay also moved to the wall, merging with glass, paper and paint. Most recently, the completion of a larger second studio at her Camden, Maine summer home has opened up even more new inspirations and opportunities, and large format encaustic monotypes have become a focus of her attention.
Susan’s work is defined by a deep desire to find ways to evoke the viewer’s conscious and subliminal connections to the complexity of natural rhythms. She approaches her process in a fearless and often playful manner, challenging conventions in order to intrigue both the eye and the mind.
Curriculum Vitae
OBJECTIVE: To continue to expand my exploration of color, texture, and space by combining familiar mediums in ways that reset the rules and intrigue the eye and the mind.
PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1955, married, two children in college. Lived and worked as an artist in Boca Grande, Gasparilla Island, Florida since 1978. Summers are spent in second home/studio in Camden, Maine.
EDUCATION:
Alfred University College of Ceramics, School of Art & Design, August 1973 – December 1975. Included general foundation and focused classes for two and three dimensional mediums, including drawing & painting, photography, glass, sculpture and clay, with concentration in ceramic art.
SKILLS:
Functional and non-functional stoneware clay wheel work and hand building, handmade framed paper and mixed media wall pieces, photographic image transfer applications, mixed media application on clay, encaustic monotypes on rice paper.
POST-COLLEGE COURSEWORK:
· Image transfer photography, Boca Grande Art Alliance, Boca Grande, Florida (2007)
· Multiple clay, glass and mixed media courses, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico (2008-2013)
· Encaustic monotype workshop, Paul Roland, Santa Fe, New Mexico (2014)
· Multiple mixed media workshops at the Farnsworth Museum, Camden, Maine (2014 to Present
EXPERIENCE:
· 1975 – 1978: Independent resident studio experience, showing and selling locally on Captiva Island and Useppa Island, Florida.
· 1978 – 1980: Co-established Gasparilla Studios in Boca Grande, Florida – included studio and storefront design and furnishing, technical and aesthetic ceramic art instruction and operating on-site retail business.
· 1980 – Present: Independent resident studio experience, participating and selling in multiple Southwest Florida organizational exhibitions (see Awards).
· 1987 - Present: Boca Grande Art Center founder, Board of Directors member, Treasurer, Finance Committee Chairman, Scholarship Committee Chairman
· April 2009 – Present: Founder, sole owner and operator of ClayOriginals LLC.
CROSS-CULTURAL EXPERIENCE:
Extensive travel in recent years to Britain, Ireland, China, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Tunisia, Malta, U. S. & British Virgin Islands, Southern Caribbean Islands, Mexico, Bahamas, Belize, Canada and Iceland. I have also been a frequent visitor to Denver and Pagosa Springs, Colorado, Santa Fe, New Mexico and have a second home/studio in Camden, Maine.
MEMBERSHIPS:
· Boca Grande Art Center, Boca Grande, Florida
· Art Center Bradenton, Bradenton, Florida
· Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida
· Englewood Art Center, Englewood, Florida
· North Port Art Center, North Port, Florida
· Punta Gorda Visual Arts Center, Punta Gorda, Florida
· Venice Art Center, Venice, Florida
· Florida Museum for Women Artists, Deland, Florida
· The National Society of Layerists in Multi-Media
· American Craft Council, New York, New York
- Florida Craft Art, St. Petersburg, Florida
PREVIOUSLY/CURRENTLY REPRESENTED BY:
· Serendipity Gallery, Boca Grande, Florida
· Paradise Gallery, Boca Grande, Florida
· Newlin’s, Boca Grande, Florida
· Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, Maine
· Englewood Frame Shoppe, Englewood, Florida
· Smart Studios, Boca Grande, Florida
· Florida Craft Art, St. Petersburg, Florida
· Gilchrist Interiors, Boca Grande, Florida
- Art Uptown Gallery, Sarasota, Florida
- Fine Arts Society Creators & Collectors Tour (invitational), Sarasota, Florida
AWARDS:
· April 2010 - ArtCenter Manatee, “Perfect Ten” Juried Exhibition, Honorable Mention for “Avian Ensemble”, framed mixed media piece.
· May 2010 - Punta Gorda Visual Arts Center, “Made by Hand” Juried Exhibition, Honorable Mention for “Wood Watchers”, framed mixed media piece.
· June 2010 – Venice Art Center, “Found Objects” Juried Exhibition, Third Place for “Lidded Vessel #10”, stoneware clay and mixed media piece.
· June 2010 – ArtCenter Manatee, “Bloomers” Juried Exhibition, Second Place for “Daydream”, framed mixed media piece
· September 2010 – Venice Art Center, “Anything & Everything” Juried Exhibition, Merit Award for “Sea Synergy”, framed mixed media piece.
· June 2011 – Art Center Manatee, “Artists at Work” Juried Exhibition, Second Place for “Tunisian Fantasy”, framed mixed media piece.
· June 2011 – North Port Art Center, “Fins, Fur & Feathers” Juried Exhibition, First Place for “Avian Ensemble” framed mixed media piece and Honorable Mention for “Fish Fantasy” Vessel, stoneware clay and mixed media piece.
· July 2011 – Punta Gorda Visual Arts Center, “Summer Sizzler” Juried Exhibition, Honorable Mention for “Beach Wayside”, framed mixed media piece.
· October 2011 – Venice Art Center, “Three Dimensional Art” Juried Exhibition, Merit Award for “Cardinal Vessel”, stoneware clay and mixed media piece.
· October 2011 – Englewood Art Center, “Memory Lane” Juried Exhibition, Third Place Award for “East Avenue Reflections”, framed mixed media piece.
· November 2011 – Art Center Manatee, “Imagine That” Juried Exhibition, Honorable Mention for “Garden Fantasia”, framed mixed media piece.
· July 2012 – North Port Art Center, “Mixed Media” Juried Exhibition, Best in Show for “Tunisian Fantasy”, framed mixed media piece.
· December 2014 – North Port Art Center, “3-D Pieces” Juried Exhibition, Third Place for “Summer Solstice”, Foliage Series clay/acrylic bowl.
- May 2016 - Bird Key Yacht Club Invitational Exhibit, Sarasota, Florida
- July 2018 - Art Uptown Gallery, "Dog Days of Summer Show", First Place in 3D for "Tropic Vessel" clay and encaustic piece
· January 2022 – Art Center Sarasota, “Anything Goes” Juried Exhibition, Honorable Mention for “Turtle Topia”, encaustic monotype
· January 2023 – Englewood Art Center, “Abstract” Juried Exhibition, Third Place for “Palmetto”, encaustic monotype & mixed media