About Susan
Susan Gott is an award-winning artist who creates sculpture utilizing glass as her primary media and specializes in cast glass to create one-of-a-kind sculptures and large-scale public art. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Kent State University, a Bachelor’s from Radford University and studied glass at Pilchuck, Haystack, Arrowmont and Penland. Susan is in demand as a high caliber instructor and recently taught glass at The Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass and The Glass Furnace in Istanbul, Turkey. She served as Conference Co-chair for the Glass Art Society Conference in Tampa. Susan grew up in Virginia and built her studio in Tampa, Florida where she works from her own Gott Glass Gallery & Phoenix Studio, a unique artist’s atelier.
Gott has designed and completed numerous major public works incorporating cast glass, bas-relief panels, lighting, fountains, seating, often combining steel and stone. Works are included in the public collections of the City of Tampa, Port St. Lucie, University of Central Florida, Port Tampa Library, The City of St. Petersburg, and HARTline Transit Center.
Susan’s glass sculptures are exhibited and collected internationally, most recently with the Art in Embassies Program at the American Embassy in Guatemala and Kisslinger Crystal in Rattenburg, Austria. Permanent collections include The National Gallery of Bulgaria, Cafesjian Museum of Art in Armenia, Tacoma Museum of Glass, Saint Petersburg Museum, Polk Museum of Art, Alexander Brest Museum, Raymond James, and Tampa General Hospital. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including, an American Craft Council Award of Excellence, Crafts-Woman of the Year, Individual Artist Fellowship and New Forms Florida. Her work is published in New Glass Review, Glass Art 2000, Glass Art Magazine, Sunshine Artist and American Craft.
Artist Statement
About the Work
My work embodies an interest in mythological imagery, symbolism, and philosophies from historic and ancient cultures. I love to travel and I am intensely interested in ancient civilizations, symbols of ritual art, ancient myths and how they connect us, most deeply, with our own nature and our place in this world. The resulting glass, with primitive qualities and metaphors, are a visual re—presentation of the cycles of life. The archetypal images that emerge explore spirituality, existence, humor, love, magic, dualities and the beauty of life. The human form is a vessel for my connection to Spirit. The elements of this ancient, visual language have become enmeshed in my thought and in my art as I create a new mythos in glass.
About the Process
The casting process is intense and involves ladling the molten glass directly from the furnace at 2300° F. Timing, temperature and the casting team all have to work together with absolute accuracy to create each piece. I frequently work with a rigid sand mold technique, for it allows detail and the ability to work on a large scale. The interior images, symbols, inclusions and color are manipulated into the glass before it cools. After annealing, the individually created mold is destroyed and each casting is one of a kind. The glass sculpture must be ground and polished and the surfaces are enhanced with enamels, copper, gold leaf, patinas and etching. Combining glass with steel and stone brings yet another natural element to the sculpture. Sand casting combines my aesthetic concerns and allows an articulate yet raw method of expressing this ancient connection to the contemporary.
Susan Gott Resume
Contact Us
811 E Knollwood St, Tampa, FL 33604, United States of America
Contact Us
811 E Knollwood St, Tampa, FL 33604, United States of America
