Suellen Black

Bio

Suellen Black is a glass artist with her studio located at the Workhouse Arts Center.  She was already volunteering before the Workhouse officially opened and started taking their first classes.  After one year, she entered the emerging artist program and shared a studio with other emerging artists.  She is originally from Long Island, New York but she has lived in other states or overseas for the last fifty years.  She is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a BA in Art History.  She returned to New York after graduation to work on Wall Street until a navy pilot swept her off her feet and took her from Manhattan to Midway Island.  Each time they moved to a different location, she had a different profession. Finally when they settled in Fairfax, Virginia she worked for EDS as a Department of Defense contractor installing and training computer systems both in the US and Europe.

Art was always a part of her life; her mother was an artist whose creativity knew no bounds.  Her mother could design and sew a wedding dresses one day and the next week create custom wrought iron headboards that were sold on Fifth Ave in New York.   She also shared her love of drawing, painting and sculpturing with her daughter.  There were always multiple different projects in progress at home.   Suellen enjoyed taking a variety of art and craft classes in her free time and glass fascinated her from the first class.

She loves the challenge of using glass to paint more traditional subjects like landscapes and is still exploring the many different techniques and methods to create these works.   She has taken additional classes to explore this medium at Corning, Penland, and Vitrum Studios.

If you visited Suellen’s home you would not be surprised with her choice of subject matters for her own work.  The majority of her art collection focuses on landscapes, nature and buildings in bright vibrant colors from acquired on their travels. The artists work that most inspires her are the landscapes of both Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele.