Susan first got her hands in clay as a teenager, when her art class spent 2 or 3 weeks with the medium.  She loved it but then they moved on to other media.  Several decades later, in mid life, Susan was able to work with clay again taking classes at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News.  The hours she spent in those classes were the sanest hours of her week.  She now has a home studio. 

Recently, Susan has expanded her work into soft-slab constructions.  For these she uses a moister, more plastic clay body which gives the finished forms a softer, folded, puffy or pillowy look, sometimes almost like sewn fabric.  She also likes to apply surface textures to her work and have the glazes play in the textures.  Natural objects like leaves, seedpods, twigs and shells are her favorite texturing tools.