Trained in Italy, a master of a myriad sculptural techniques, Susan Smyly has worked for years outside the gallery system, honing her technique by producing intimate busts and bas-reliefs of people she knew or strangers she met on the street.

The work is distinguished by an extraordinary sensitivity to personality and individuality, a trait which carries over into her signature pieces, portrayals of beings inspired as much by the nightmares on the evening news as they are by the faces at the corner store.

Susan Smyly is a Fulbright scholar and has twice been awarded the Prix de Rome, given out annually by the American Academy in Italy. Her work has been represented in exhbitions including The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC; The Smithsonian Museum, Washington, DC; and The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY.  

- Mark Rykoff, June 2005