Murmurations and Migrations: Flocks of clay birds in site specific installations
Eco-Artist influenced by travels and nature
After earning her fine arts degree in painting, Susan Hostetler started her overseas travel with setting up a hand papermaking mill in Friedberg, Germany in 1985. Her work in Germany led to exhibitions at the Gutenberg and Klingspor Museums. Her subsequent move to Barcelona, Spain, changed her palette and imagery due to the light, fauna and flora of the Mediterranean regions. Whether working in gouache and mixed media on handmade paper or working three dimensionally with clay, Hostetler has always been inspired by nature. From her New York City studio Hostetler traveled to Africa, Europe and the South Pacific gathering further inspiration for her works.
Hostetler's work hangs in permanent collections, including large, multi-panel site-specific commissions for the Federal Reserve Bank, as well as special commissions for the US Committee for UNIFEM, Four Seasons Hotel, Deutsche Bank, Dunn & Bradstreet, Readers Digest, Fidelity Corp, the Humane Society of the US, INOVA Hospital Fairfax, and several others.
Selected for the Arts in Embassy Program, by the US State Department, she was also chosen by the Smithsonian Institute for its SITE Traveling Exhibition.
Hostetler added hand papermaking as a skill with awards from the Russell Siebert and Tiffany Foundations to study with Twinrocker Handmade Paper in Indiana, where she made custom papers for artists including Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns.
As an art educator, Hostetler has worked in Washington DC museums and schools. She was honored with the Robert Rauschenberg Power of the Arts award for innovation in teaching art to students with learning challenges in 2012. Still active in the DC Art Education chapter of the National Art Education Association, Hostetler was a member of the first Executive Board, 2012-2014.
Susan Hostetler exhibits both nationally and internationally. Her works have been featured in the film, “You’ve Got Mail”, the TV series, “Beverly Hills 90210” and in publications including the Washington Post, Boston Globe Magazine, MetroLife Magazine (Washington Post), Frankfurter Rundschau and the New York Hotelier. Hostetler’s studio is in Washington DC.