“Dream • Play • Create”​ Is the brand Susan has chosen to define her creative process as an artist. Approaching every day with an open mind and an open heart, Susan gains inspiration from her sleeping and waking dreams and embraces their capacity to connect the physical and metaphysical realms. She believes that the process of creating art connects her with a larger energy and it is through her participation as a conduit for that energy that her art achieves authenticity. During the creative process, Susan is focused on cultivating a sense of play; playing with materials, throwing around new ideas, and engaging in light-hearted conversations with other creative thinkers. As a result of this “open” spirit, her work is not static nor tied to a specific genre, but embodies several “periods” or themes each of which convey a sense of positive energy. Susan’s current inspiration is focused on meditation, acceptance and gratitude as expressed through Zen circles or ensos. She has embraced the ensō, to communicate the meditative process of focusing on one moment in time, accepting it and showing gratitude to the energy of that one, single moment. ​In 2004 and 2011, Susan was awarded Individual Artist Excellence Grants from the Central MN Arts Board and in 2015 a career development grant from the same organization and in 2020 she was awarded a “Project for Hope” grant from Forecast Public Art. She received formal training in painting and drawing at Gustavus Adolphus College and Temple University’s Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy. Susan presently lives in Buffalo, MN where she also enjoys being an active musician.