Own a fascinating piece of Brooklyn art history, masterfully crafted by a fascinating Brooklyn woman.
As part of our ongoing Mutual Aid Art Sale, Brooklyn Arts Council is honored to share with you five exquisite works by the late Fort Greene resident, Susan Rowland.
An exercise in philanthropy at its most vital, the artists participating in our Mutual Aid Art Sale have the option of either keeping the earnings, splitting the funds 50/50 with Brooklyn Arts Council, or donating the proceeds to our organization.
About Susan Rowland
Susan Rowland at home with Carla, the muse behind many a clay sculpture. Image courtesy townhouse.bz.
Horse, 1999, High fired glazed stoneware, 14"h x 16"l x 8"w
“Susan’s creativity surged with her exploration of ceramics – she twisted and distorted classic vessel shapes and then developed glazes that drew from her gestural abstract expressionist knowledge. During this period, Susan also experimented with monoprints. She printed weeds, snow, dog fur, ice and then, after 9/11, conceived of her 9/11 weed monoprint series.”
— Marla Dekker, townhouse.bz
Untitled, 1996, Mixed media, 32.5"h x 67"w
Susan was not raised in Brooklyn, though it was quick to become her home. Born in 1940 in Boston, she attended Vassar College and the the Art Students League of New York. In a class of her own, Susan was an eager student and prolific painter, ceramicist, and all-around artist; she would later study with Richard Diebenkorn at the Santa Fe Institute.
Awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Rowland has been the subject of solo exhibitions in Santa Fe, Sag Harbor, and New York City.
Returning to New York City in the 1970s, she worked in a studio on the corner of Broadway and 79th street until moving to a loft in downtown Brooklyn where she started to work in clay after studying at Long Island University.
An indelible figure at the Fort Greene dog park in her later years, Susan passed away in 2019 at the age of 79. Today, her legacy lives on across Brooklyn and New York City. Susan Rowland's work is in major public and private collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Historical Society, Santa Fe’s Fine Arts Museum, and New Mexico’s Roswell Museum and Art Center.
9/11 Weed Monoprint, 2002, Monoprint, 29.75" x 22.5"w;