Susan Houldin is originally from the Catskill Mountains in NY state. Surrounded by nature, she is constantly drawn back to the mountainous region even if living in different parts of Massachusetts. She received her BFA at the College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY. At the College of New Rochelle, Susan was particularly influenced by professors Douglas Craft(late) and William Maxwell. And part of her art instruction throughout the years has led her back to the Woodstock School of Art. Drawing and painting under the teachings of the late Nick Buhalis, figurative sculpture with Tricia Cline and even an early stint during her high school years with Vladimir Bachinsky.
Susan has always been influenced by the lines and forms in architecture and this can be seen in her abstract, figurative and sculpture pieces today. Most recently, Susan's main attention has been creating custom house ornaments in clay. Sculpting all different views in architecture has allowed her skill level in drawing to go beyond her expectations and allowed herself to just jump in and not think too much of whether something is going to work out or not. The crunch times when facing a heavy work load with the custom house ornaments has indeed forced her to just do it and somehow everything works out fine.
The custom house ornament work can sometimes be limited even though these items are often described as 3-d. Susan also enjoys sculpting more 3-d work with her gift ware ornament designs.
The lure of the baseball drawing on the desk is still waiting to be finished. And painting abstracts, as well as, realism awaits Susan. Creating cut paper designs is a relaxing outlet, too.
Susan is interested in illustrating children's books, as well.
As of July 2018, Susan has returned to the Catskills and the Hudson Valley.