Artist’s Biography

            I was born in North Carolina in 1960.  My parents were educated at Vanderbilt University and received degrees in engineering and mathematics.  Unlike my parents, I was anxious to leave the South.  Art was not considered a field of serious endeavor, but a pastime on equal par with jigsaw puzzles. My older sister, who was tremendously talented in all the arts was my mentor.  When she left home at an early age, I began making "projects"--these were fine messes--three-dimensional topographical maps of Africa and China, a Ghanian gold mine of silly putty and sequins, a series of railroad cars representing the islands of  Indonesia.

            These were creative means to academic ends.  I went on to get my bachelor degrees in Chemistry and Art History, making a practical move into Fine Art Conservation.  This field allowed me to travel extensively, to see art, and to run away from what I really wanted --to make "projects."  While on an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I received a traveling fellowship to go to China in 1986.  I returned depleted and very ill. My convalescence encouraged reflection.  I was 27 and finally ready to go to art school.  I left New York and moved to Boston to attend the Museum School.  Just after receiving my diploma in 1991, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and major depression.  Psychiatric hospitalization and complications from surgery made for a slow recovery.  I was too weak to make sculpture, so I turned to painting.  I was surprised to discover that  I was able to see color in a way I never had before. Initially these paintings were never meant to be shown.  They were made from necessity--a necessity to tell the story of my traumatic illness and the abuses of the psychiatric institution.  The series of paintings number 85 in all.  I continue to paint in this somewhat "naive" way, as a means of staying connected to that very important period of my life.

            I entered graduate school in fine art at the Massachusetts College of Art in 1993, focusing on sculpture and painting.   I graduated with my MFA in 1995 and after an artist's residency position at a private Boston high school, I moved back to New York City.

While in NYC I returned to the field of art conservation and started my private conservation business, White Conservation Services.  In 2006 I moved from the city to Western MA where I now live and work.  I’ve recently become a member of the Oxbow Gallery in Northampton.

Susan M. White