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5. Susan Gross
http://www.susangross.com/
http://susanbgross.wordpress.com/




It takes an incredible amount of skill and restraint to make simple and elegant images. It takes intelligence and awareness to express the gist of a subject with only a few brush strokes and a great deal of wit and sensitivity. Susan Gross accomplishes this with every assignment she takes on. She also continually challenges herself to explore unknown territory and try things without the foreknowledge that they will work. I have seen her do this with painting, printmaking, and collage. Each new material she tackles prompts a shift in approach, color, and subject matter. Her work is instantly recognizable to my eye. No matter how much she grows and develops as an artist, one thing remains constant, her spirit.

As a professional designer and illustrator she has been working for over 25 years in a field that seems the first to be affected by recessions, is flooded every year with younger artists who seem only too willing to give more for less and sacrifice the value of their work for quick financial gains. She has been imitated, but never very well, and has From Joe Boxer PJ’s to Beringer wine labels to books and Nordstrom products, Susan has created distinctively sophisticated design solutions for a variety of clients including Living on the Edge by Stephen Levine, Heal Your Body A-Z, published by Hay House; Vanilla, published by Chronicle Books; and The Cultured Cocktail; published by Clarkson Potter.

For more information, please visit Susan's website. Also, if you know anyone who is visiting or lives in the Mendocino, CA region, tell them to stop by her and her husband David's Art Barn.