Artist Watch: Susan Walden

To add to the Artist Watch Series, meet Susan Walden aka BamaSusanna on Flickr.

Susan lives in North Carolina, USA and has been making mosaics for around 15 years. I also met Susan through Flickr. It’s become a huge playing field for mosaicists aswell as other artists and of course photographers and it’s been alot of fun getting to know artists from around the World. I found Susan thanks to Donna over at her blog Make Mine Mosaics. Donna blogged Susan’s birdbath. I immediately responded to her work – it’s amazing!

Susan started in mosaics as a result of having so many scraps from making stained glass, a craft she taught herself from reading library books. Inspired from seeing mosaic stepping stones and learning the basics of mosaics from information found on the web, Susan decided to give mosaic a go. To begin with all she made were stepping stones and must have made a hundred of them! Working in a custom framing store, she sold quite a few through the shop. Susan made nothing but stepping stones until about a year ago when she discovered a wonderful stained glass and mosaics forum on the internet. The forum was full of friendly artists who were very encouraging and it was from there that she was introduced to other mosaic artists’ websites. She browsed a lot of different styles and counts Irina Charny and Laurel Skye amongst her favourite artists (don’t we all!!!?) as she loves their use of colour.

The art that Susan’s newfound web buddies were turning out inspired her to try out different bases for her mosaic. The first 3D piece she made was a chimney. Covering the whole thing with scrap glass and finding a ceramic platter that worked for the top transformed it into a fantastic (and recycled) birdbath! After the positive feedback received from that piece, she was encouraged to go on and try other things.

Susan made another birdbath, this time using a concrete base. She cut glass squares for about a week before even starting and had no particular design in mind. She just picked up a piece of glass and got started, choosing colours as she went. It tuned out to be her favourite piece, and definitely one of mine aswell!

From then on, she hasn’t been afraid to try anything creating mirrors and other art pieces (watering can included!), all with encouragement from her friends. She is now a proud member of SAMA.

More recently she stumbled across a quote from the Great Maya Angelou:
“Not everything you do
is going to be
a masterpiece,

but you get out there
and you try
and sometimes
it really happens.

The other times
you’re just
stretching
your soul.”

So true!

I love Susan’s use of colour, which she credits to having worked as a custom framer for so many years. It’s so rich and always just works. The fact that she works as she goes also blows me away considering her wonderful designs… Again, I’ll let her work speak for itself:

Chimney Tile Bird Bath originally uploaded by BamaSusanna

Bird Bath Post originally uploaded by BamaSusanna

Mosaic Stepping Stone originally uploaded by BamaSusanna

Mosaic Mirror originally uploaded by BamaSusanna

scaredy originally uploaded by BamaSusanna

And finally a pic of the artiste in question: