Contributed by Susanne Kaime Reese
Northeastern Nevada Featured Artist
Sculptor Susan Church is native to northeastern Nevada. Her art and outlook on life come from a place deep within her heart; her family and a long respected ranching heritage. An artist speaks through their work, and Susan’s art tells of her connection to the wild open western landscape of Nevada and the elements of life in the Great Basin.
Her father, Arthur Glaser, introduced her to the art of metalwork through the welding and repairing of equipment on the family ranch. Susan enriched her skills while attending the Northern Nevada Community College (now Great Basin College) in Elko, and later went on to study art and design at the San Francisco Academy of Art, where she networked with other metalworkers in the California Blacksmiths Association.
Susan now works on the ranch, and her studio is in the ranch shop alongside tractors and implements. Her art is both inspired by and channeled through the objects she finds in her wanderings. She finds many of her materials while rummaging through ranch junkyards. An affinity for rusty iron draws Susan to these repositories of history and she often imagines the stories they could tell. The serendipity of these discoveries lends to the whimsical creations she assembles and the stories she tells in her sculptures. She says her work preserves the past in metal and she is able to make what is old, new and meaningful again. 
She is a long-time member of the Wild Women Artists, an active artist group that gathers to support each other and stage art shows around Nevada. Susan’s larger architectural installations can be found at the Elko County Library, the Main City Park, and the campus of Great Basin College. Her artwork can also be seen locally at the Western Folklife Center and Duncan Little Creek Gallery.