Susan Gillette was born in Youngstown, Ohio, and grew up in New York State where she lived until she moved to the Southwest in 1991. Ms. Gillette received a BFA in printmaking from SUNY at Purchase, New York, and a Master's degree from the School of Visual Arts, New York City, New York.
Her family has been a powerful, supportive force that has nurtured her creativity. She credits much of her imagery to the influence of her parents; her father is a sculptor and her mother is a poet. Creativity runs in the family as her siblings are also very talented artists. Her brother John is a gifted cartoonist, and another brother, Robert, is an accomplished potter.
Ms. Gillette currently resides in the Southwest and enjoys "anything outdoors". She travels the world to pursue her favorite sports: sailing, mountain climbing, rappelling, biking and skiing.
Screen-printing is the most painterly of the printing techniques. It allows the use of layer upon layer of color, exploiting line and mass in bold ways.
The inks can be printed as rich impastos or thin transparent glazes. The result is a print that is both vivid in hue and displays a rich tactile surface.