SUSAN ROWLAND

Artist
ARTIST 01
Artist Collection

Susan Rowland 1940 — 2019

For more than 40 years, Rowland pursued an artistic path of bold experimentation and passionate expressivity. This collection surveys Rowland’s development following her move to Brooklyn in 1986; a move that precipitated the artist’s significant shift and expansion of her creative practices past the confines of abstract painting.
During this period, Rowland dedicated herself to mastering the art of individually crafted ceramics. Parallel explorations of large-scale drawing and the monoprint furthered her efforts to push the technical and creative boundaries of traditional glazed stoneware. Created from the artist’s distinctive formal vocabularies of gestural abstraction, drawing, and collage, Rowland’s sensual and sensitive vessels and figures operate as both functional objects and potent metaphors of the tensions between the visceral and the visionary.
Rowland was born in 1940 in Boston, Massachusetts. Educated at Vassar College and the Arts Students League, Rowland also studied with Richard Diebenkorn at the Santa Fe Institute and was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Rowland has been the subject of several solo exhibitions in Santa Fe, Sag Harbor, and New York City. Her 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.
Born 1940
Died 2019
Medium Ceramics & Art
Her Journey

The Artistic Journey of Susan Rowland

1940
01

A Boston Beginning

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Susan Rowland began a life that would become deeply devoted to art and creative expression.

1960s
02

Shaping Her Craft

Rowland studied at Vassar College and the Art Students League of New York, building the artistic foundation that would guide her career.

1970s
03

Expanding Her Vision

She studied with Richard Diebenkorn at the Santa Fe Institute, deepening her exploration of expressive and experimental approaches to art.

1980s
04

National Recognition

Her artistic achievements earned multiple accolades, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

2019
05

An Enduring Legacy

Susan continued working until her death in 2019 at age 79, leaving behind work held in major public and private collections.

Collection