Susan Van Winkle

For more than 30 years Susan Van Winkle has been devoted to the visual arts. An artist of wild and domestic animals, Van Winkle displays a diverse scope of different mediums to express her passion for animals. Drawing in graphite, pen and ink drawing, scratchboard, plus sculpture in bronze, alabaster, soapstone, marble, resin, and cast stone.

Her’s formal art training includes four years of study in fine art, illustration, photography, and commercial art at Paier College of Art, Hamden, CT. Sculpture and the techniques behind it have been enhanced through courses at the Washington, Connecticut Art Association, guidance through the Paul King Foundry, and Mystic River Foundry, plus self-taught experimentation.

Except for Van Winkle’s one-of-a-kind natural stone carvings, her other sculpted pieces, done originally in clay, need to go through the lengthy process of casting in a more permanent material. Susan likes to have a hands-on approach in the next phase; tackling the engineering of the mold, making a rubber mold of her sculpture, to the final casting and finishing.

Oxford American Dictionaries has engaged Van Winkle’s talent in illustrating numerous fish, reptiles, birds and mammals for their dictionary editions. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally and has received the Award of Merit from the National Art Exhibition of Alaskan Wildlife, and the Award of Excellence from the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport’s 1993 International Marine Art Exhibition.

Van Winkle is an Active Artist Member of the Lyme Art Association, an Elected Artist member of the Mystic Arts Center and a member of the Society of Connecticut Sculptors. Her work is in private collections worldwide.