Susan Allred

Susan Allred is a mixed media artist who works primarily with fiber to explore the ways it affects and reflects our daily lives. She mixed traditional tailoring and quilting techniques with her own brand of needlcraft to make her fiber sculptures. This process requires her to slow down, experiment, and explore the ways commercial material can be coaxed into the forms she wants. Susan sees this quietness expressed in each piece, and believes that their repose—or tension—can provide respite and release for viewers.

Like many Southern women of a certain age, Susan was born with a needle in her hand. Despite that legacy, she had two prior careers—one in journalism and a second in software development—before circling back to focus on a third career as an artist.

In 2019, Bound was selected to appear at the Eric Fischl Vanguard Showcase, at the Phoenix Art Museum and in the Eric Fischl Gallery, where it was awarded Second Place in the 3D Media category. In May 2020, her mixed media piece Invitation to a Tea Party was awarded Best in Show at Mesa Community College’s 2020 Annual Juried Student Art Show. In July 2020, she received a grant from The Carmody Foundation’s Art For Good Arizona Project which commissioned a work from Susan that was auctioned for charity.

Susan has been an artist member at Eye Lounge contemporary art space since February 2020. She lives and works in Tempe, Arizona.