Stitching Together
Sculptural art quilt in the collection of the McKissick Museum



Antebellum
Flower Pounding on Vintage Sleeping Gown



Threads, Gathering My Thoughts
Installation at Gallery 80808



My Blue Grass Roots
Art Quilt Lowell 2012

Handed Down, art quilt



Last Words, solo show at the Tapps Art Center



Hanging Cotton: Triangular Trade at the Textile Museum in DC




Last Words at Vision Gallery
Chandler, AZ 2011    
Solo Show by Susan Lenz



I Do/I Don't Installation 2011    
Installation by Susan Lenz




Wasted Words: Global Warnings
Permanent Collection at the Textile Museum, Washington, DC
Susan Lenz




Runaway Runway 2011
Recycled Bridal Party Fashions
by Susan Lenz




Handed Down
Best of Show in Palmetto Hands 2012
Susan Lenz




Stained Glass XXVII
Series available at
The Grovewood Gallery




Public art quilt project
"Looking For a Mate"
Sock art quilt, 2011

biograpphy

Click HERE for Susan's FULL CV

Education:  BA in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from Ohio State University

Selected Art Residencies, Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, Starkville, MS; Catoctin Mountain National Park, Thurmont, MD; Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Pine Spring, TX, 2021; Great Basin National Park, Baker, NV, 2020; Enos Park Residency with Springfield Art Association, Springfield, IL, 2020; Homestead National Monument, Nebraska, July 2017; PLAYA, October 2015 and December 2016 in Summer Lake, OR; The Anderson Center, May 2015 in Red Wing, MN; The Studios at Key West, March 2012; Hot Springs National Park, August 2011; MacNamara Foundation Artist Residency, 2008

Selected Solo Shows:

2024
Found Object Mandalas, Spalding Nix Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Once & Again: Alterations, Springfield Art Association, Springfield, IL

2023
Once & Again: Alterations, Piedmont Arts, Martinsville, VA
Anonymous Ancestors, Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage, Ridgeland, SC
Once & Again: Alterations, Imperial Centre, Rocky Mount, NC

2022
Anonymous Ancestors, Black Creek Arts Council, Hartsville, SC
Once & Again Alterations, Artisans on the Square, Greenville, GA
Last Words,, Sumter County Gallery of Art, Sumter, SC
Behold the Wonder: Susan Lenz, Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Sumter, SC
Found Object Mandalas, Park Circle Gallery, North Charleston, SC
Anonymous Ancestors, City Gallery at Waterfront Park, Charleston, SC

2021
The Big Day, The Pickens County Museum of Art and History, Pickens, SC
Last Words, The Appalachian Center for Craft at Tennessee Tech, Smithville, TN
Once and Again: Alterations by Susan Lenz, Piedmont Community College's Overcash Gallery, Charlotte, NC
Blues Chapel, The Arts Center of Kershaw County, Camden, C

2020
Anonymous Ancestors, The Fine Art Gallery at Lander University, Lander, SC
The Feminist To Do List, Muscatine Art Museum, Muscatine, Iowa
The Feminist To-Do List, Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC

2019
Anonymous Ancestors, Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, AL
Last Words, Caldwell Arts Council, Lenoir, NC

2018
Anonymous Ancestors, Eastern Shore Art Center, Fairhope, AL and Theatre Art Galleries, High Point, NC
The Wall of Ancestors, and Buttons, two solo shows running simultaneously at the University of South Carolina-Aiken's Etherredge Art Center, Aiken, SC.
Last Words, Greenville Center for the Arts, Greenville, SC

2017
Anonymous Ancestors, The University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, SC
In Stitches, Waterworks Visual Arts Center, Salisbury, NC
Threads: Gathering My Thoughts, South Carolina State Library, Columbia, SC

2016
Anonymous Ancestors, The University of South Carolina-Beaufort, Beaufort, SC
Last Words, The University of South Carolina-Aiken, Etherredge Center, Aiken, SC
PLAYA: A Month in Paradise, Anastasia & Friends Gallery, Columbia, SC
Last Words, The Georgia Agriculture Museum and Historic Village, Tifton, GA
Threads: Gathering My Thoughts The Mesa Contemporary Art Museum, Mesa, AZ

2015
Last Words, The Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum, Carrollton, GA
Fiber Architecture: Buildings in Stitches The Cultural Arts Council of Douglasville, Douglasville, GA

2014
Last Words Tapps Art Center, Columbia, SC
Threads: Gathering My Thoughts Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, Columbia, SC.
Fiber Architecture: Buildings in Stitches Allenton Gallery at the Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC.

2013
Decision Portraits Vision Gallery, Chandler, AZ
Decision Portraits University of South Carolina Sumter campus
I Am Not Invisible Tapps Art Center, Columbia, SC

2012
Decision Portraits International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX
The Canopy The Box, Galesburg, IL
Last Words The Imperial Center, Rocky Mount, NC
Fiber Architecture: Buildings in Stitches.  Fredericksburg, VA

2011
Last Words.  Vision Gallery, Chandler, AZ
Personal Grounds.  Waterworks Visual Arts Center, Salisbury, NC

2010    
Personal Grounds.  City Gallery at Waterfront Park, Charleston, SC
Blues Chapel and Last Words. Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, Columbia, SC
Last Words. Florence Regional Arts Alliance, Florence, SC

2009
Blues Chapel, Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton, TX

2008
Blues Chapel, Pickens County Museum of Art, Pickens, SC and at the Edgefield Discovery Center, Edgefield, SC

2007    
Stitched! Hyman Fine Arts Center, Francis Marion University, Florence, SC
Buildings in Stitches, Ironstone Vineyards, Murphys, CA

2006    
Markings, University of South Carolina-Aiken, Aiken, SC
Blues Chapel, Sumter Gallery of Art, Sumter, SC

Corporate and Museum Collections: 

The Textile Museum, Washington, DC; The Museum of the Department of Interior, Washington, DC; McKissick Museum, Columbia, SC; DP Professionals, Columbia, SC; City of North Charleston, SC; County Bank, Greenwood, SC; First Citizens Center, Columbia, SC; Hot Springs National Park, Hot Springs, AR; Great Basin National Park, Baker, NV; Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Flat Salts, TX; Catoctin Mountain Park, Thurmont, MD; Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, Starkville, MS; South Carolina Bank and Trust, Columbia, SC; Power Engineering, Charlotte, NC; Beaufort Arts Council, Beaufort, SC; Garvin Designs, Columbia, SC; Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum, La Grange, GA; Farmington Museum, Farmington, NM; Saluda Shoals Park, Irmo, SC; Florence Regional Arts Alliance Permanent Art Collection, Florence, SC; Palmetto GBA, Columbia, SC.

Selected Group  Exhibits and Other Opportunities:

2024 Rescue: Waste and Redemption Lyndon House Art Center, Athens, GA
Rising UP! A Multi-Cultural Celebration of Stitched Fine Art Featherstone Arts Center, Martha's Vineyard, MA
2023

The Gap Between Life and Art College of Central Florida, Ocala, FL
Ensemble Spalding Nix Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Entwined: A Group Exhibition of Textile and Fiber Art, Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta, GA
Confluence-Connections in Fiber, ArtWorks, Wilmington, NC

2022

Protest Signs, UNCW CAB Gallery, Wilmington, NC
Liturgical and Sacred ArtSpringfield Art Association, Springfield, IL
The Smithsonian Craft Show, Washington, DC
Palmetto Hands, North Charleston, SC
Generations: 30 Years of Woman Made Gallery, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Art of All: I Am, Waterworks Visual Arts Center, Salisbury, NC
Mill District Public Art Trail Installation, Columbia, SC

2021

Call and Response: Craft as a Tool for Activism, Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, CA
Art of the Book, Rochester, NY
701 CCA South Carolina Biennial, Columbia, SC
46th Annual Fiber Artists of San Antonio Juried Exhibit, San Antonio, TX
ArtFields 2021, The Cocoon at the House on Church Street, Lake City, SC
Palmetto Hands, North Charleston, Outstanding Merit Award
Birds of a Fiber, The Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum, La Conner, WA
Making It Through, the Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum, Carrollton, GA
The Art of the Book 2021, the Rochester Public Library, Rochester, NY

2020 [Not all venues happened due to COVID-19]

Castaways 2020: Art from the Material World, 20 Women 20 Textiles, A Climate Action Project, Bateman Foundation, Victoria, British Columbia
JAM Session, Carrollton Art Center, Carrollton, GA
The Philadelphia Museum of Art Virtual Craft Show
Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women's Suffrage, New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA; The Texas Quilt Museum, La Grange, TX; Vision Art Museum, San Diego, CA; The Virginia Quilt Museum, Harrisonburg, VA; The Quilters Hall of Fame, Marion, IN; The Iowa Quilt Museum, Winterset, IA; The Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum, La Conner, WA
A Better World: Heroes Working for the Greater Good, the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Hampton, VA; the New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA; the Page-Walker Arts & History Center, Cary, NC; the Pacific International Quilt Festival, Santa Clara, CA

2019

701 CCA South Carolina Biennial, 701 Center for Contemporary Art, Columbia, SC
Turf Wars' Trashion Fashion Show, The Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center, Fort Myers, FL
The Day of the Dead, Vision Art Museum in partnership with the New Americas Museum, San Jose, CA
Child's Play, Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO
Freed Format: The Book Reconsidered, travelling book arts show at the Mark Twain Library in Redding, CT; the Ridgefield Guild of Artists, CT; Ridgefield Library, CT; Putnam Arts Council in Mahopac, NY; Mahopac Pubic Library, NY; Five Points Gallery in Torrington, CT; and the University of Hartford Art School, CT
Things That Matter St. George Art Museum, St. George, UT
Color: Classic to Contemporary, the Hudgens Center for Art and Learning in Duluth, GA
Fusion: Mid-Atlantic, Virginia Beach Art Center, Virginia Beach, VA
30 Years of QSDS, the Dairy Barn Art Center, Athens, OhH. May 24 - July 12, 2019
ecoFAB Trash Couture Runway Show, Tapps Art Center, Columbia, SC
Celebrating American Craft 2019 - Southern Style, Sarratt Gallery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN A Better World: Heroes Working for the Greater Good, an invitational traveling show to Visions Art Museum, San Diego, CA; the New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA; the Page-Walker Arts & History Center, Cary; and to quilt festivals in Houston, TX; Hampton, VA; Santa Clara, CA
3D Expressions, a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) exhibition at the Gerald R Ford Presidential Museum, Grand Rapids, MI; Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, St. Bonaventure, NY; and the Ross Museum of Art, Delaware, OH
The Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA

2018

Photographs and Memories Invitational at the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fibers Museum, La Conner, WA
The Smithsonian Craft Show at the National Building Museum, Washington, DC
Books Undone at Penn College, Williamsport, PA
Raw at the University of Indiana-Kokomo, Kokomo, IN
Form Not Function at the Carnegie Center, New Albany, IN
2018 Fiber National at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA
The Nature of a Stitch at Whitman College's Sheehan Gallery in Walla Walla, WA
Transformers: Artistic Alchemy at Agnes Scott College's Dalton, Decatur, GA
Things That Matter Vision Gallery, Chandler, AZ
Art Quilt Elements 2018 at Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
Guns: Loaded Conversations a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA

2017

Stitch at Morehead State University, KY
Ironic Designs at the Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, AL
H20!, a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) national traveling exhibition
35th Annual New Legacies Art Quilts Lincoln Center, Fort Collins, CO
In Death at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI
All Things Considered 9: Basketry in the 21st Century, National Basketry Association traveling exhibition
Form Not Function at the Carnegie Center, New Albany, IN
Portraits, a Through Our Hands invitation exhibition at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, UK
The Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA

2016
Between the Covers: Altered Books in Contemporary Art, Everhart Museum, Scranton, PA.
Stories of Migration: Contemporary Artists Interpret Diaspora, The Textile Museum, Washington, DC.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA

2015
Maker, Making, Made: Through Our Hands ,The Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, UK.
Independent Spirits: Women Artists of South Carolina, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC.
Form as Content, Blue Door Gallery, Yonkers, NY.
Southern Highlights, Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts, Melbourne, FL.
Natural Wonder: The Rensing Story, Clemson City Hall, Clemson, SC.
Velocity of Textiles, Ernest G. Welch Gallery, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
Natural Dye Showcase, Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA.
Intertwined: Contemporary Southeastern Fiber Art, Hudgens Center for the Arts, Duluth, GA
Art from the Ashes, Invitational Exhibition at the Tapps Art Center, Columbia, SC
Season of Soil, Woolen Mill Gallery, Reedsburg, WI.
Crafting Civil (War) Conversations, McKissick Museum, Columbia, SC
At the Edge of the Quilt: New Work, Bilston Craft Gallery, Bilston, West Midlands, UK
The Quilt Show, Episode 1711, Subscription Internet program.

2014
Fiber Fever, Foundry Art Center, St. Charles, MO.
How We See Her, Foundry Art Center, St. Charles, MO.
26th Annual Decatur Fine Arts Exhibition, Decatur, GA.
Mending: New Uses for Old Traditions, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Wilmington, NC.
2014 Instructor Exhibition at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN.
Fantastic Fibers, Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY.
South Carolina Palmetto Hands Fine Craft Exhibition, North Charleston, SC.
Radical Elements, Cafritz Foundation Arts Center, Montgomery College, Silver Springs, MD,
Volumes 2: Women Bound by Art, Curtis R. Harley Gallery, Spartanburg, SC.
35th Annual Juried South Carolina Art Competition, Pickens County Museum, Pickens, SC.

2013
INTERweave: Extreme Fibers, Cazenovia College Art Gallery, Cazenovia, NY.
Connecting Concepts & Medium: Fiber Arts in South Carolina, Pickens County Museum of Art and History, Pickens, SC.
701 South Carolina Biennial, 701 Center for Contemporary Art, Columbia, SC.
Shifting Threads, Artlink Center of the Arts, Fort Wayne, IN.
Interior Spaces, 701 Center for Contemporary Art, Columbia, SC.
National Fiber Directions, Wichita Center of the Arts, WIchita, KS.
Down to Sleep Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA.
34th Contemporary Crafts National Juried Exhibition, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, AZ.
The Dairy Barn Art Center, Athens, OH
Metaphors on Aging and Text Messages, traveling SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) exhibition.

2012
2012 Quilt Festival, La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum, La Conner, WA.
SAQA I'm Not Crazy, Studio Art Quilt Associates traveling, juried exhibition.
Things That Go Bump in the Night, Vision Gallery invitational exhibition, Chandler, AZ.
Bull Street: Life Behind the Walls, The State Museum, Columbia, SC
Narrative Threads, Page-Walker Arts and History Center, Cary, NC
Crafts National, national juried fine craft exhibition at the Mulvane Art Museum, Topeka, KS
Art and the Human Form, national juried exhibit at Blue Door Gallery, Yonkers, NY
Art Quilt Lowell 2012, at the Brush Gallery, Lowell, MA
Meet the Designers,invitational exhibit at the Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC
La Grange National XXVII,national juried fine art show, La Grange, GA
33rd Annual Contemporary Crafts, national fine crafts juried show at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa, AZ

2011
The Winter Show, invitational exhibit at the Green Hill Center, Greensboro, NC
Art of Fiber, national juried show, Workhouse Art Center, Lorton, VA
Fashion and the Female, invitational show, The Arts Center, Greenwood, SC.
National Juried Quilt Exhibit at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center, Frederick, Maryland.
The 32nd Annual Winter Show, an invitational show at the Green Hill Center for the Arts, Greensboro, NC
Layers of Memory, a SAQA juried national traveling exhibition, through June 2012
Green: A Color and a Cause
. The Textile Museum, Washington, DC.
Art Quilt Lowell, Brush Art Gallery, Lowell, MA
THE ArT-QuILT ExPERIENCE, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Cazenovia, NY.
Six Contemporary Quilt Artist, invitational show, Earlville Opera House Art Center, Earlville, NY
An American Dream: A Juxtaposition and 14th International Open, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL. 
Handcrafted, Rocky Mount, NC.
Volusia Wrapped in Fiber, DeBary, FL.
Wearable Arts Awards, Port Moody, British Columbia

Fiber Plus. Yonkers, NY

2010
Art Quilts Lowell, Brush Art Gallery, Lowell, MA. 
Australian Patchwork and Quilt Challenge International Challenge and traveling exhibition. 
ArtQuilt Element 2010.  Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA. 
Fantastic Fibers, Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY.
Art Quilts XV: Needleplay,.  Chandler Art Center, Chandler, AZ. 
LaGrange XXVI Biennial, Chattahoochee Valley Museum, LaGrange, GA. Merit Award

2009
Handcrafted, Rocky Mount, NC.
Art Quilts Lowell, Brush Art Gallery, Lowell, MA. 
National Juried Art Media Exhibition, Rocky Mount Arts Center, Rocky Mount, NC.
Palmetto Hands, North Charleston Arts Center, North Charleston, SC.  Best of Show.

2008
Materials:  Hard and Soft, Denton TX. Merit Award.
South Carolina State Museum 20th Anniversary Juried Art Exhibition. Columbia, SC.
Craftforms, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA

2007   
35th Annual Competition at the FayettevilleMuseum of Art; Fayetteville, NC.
Lines into Shapes, Art Center of Estes Park, Colorado
National Bead and Fiber Exhibit, Delaphaine Visual Arts Center, Frederick, MD.
National Juried Art Media Exhibition, Rocky Mount Arts Center, Rocky Mount, NC

2006   
Fiber Fever, Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO.
Palmetto Hands, North Charleston Arts Center, North Charleston, SC

2005
18th National Juried Art Exhibition, South Cobb Arts Alliance, Marbleton, GA
Associated Artists of Winston-Salem National Juried Exhibition, Winston-Salem, NC
Gateway National Juried Show, Farmington Museum, Farmington, NM.  Purchase Award.

2004
Pattern and Decoration, WomanMade Gallery, Chicago, IL
La Grange National XXIII, Biennial. Chattahoochee Vallery Museum, GA.

2003   
The Legacy of Romare Bearden, Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC.


More images of my work!



Exodus



Last Words: Eternal Rest, solo show at the Georgia Agriculture Museum Gallery, 2016



PLAYA: A Month in Paradise, solo show at Anastasia & Friends, 2016



Susan's booth at the American Craft Council's Baltimore show, 2016



Flicker Feather I



Flicker Feather II



Lift and Tuck



Skirt! is a Rebel



The Virgin of Gone and Forgotten



Spool Quilt, front



Spool Quilt, reverse



Spiral I



Window CXVIII



Window CXXII



Threads: Gathering My Thoughts



Gallery Representation
 Grovewood Gallery
 Mouse House, Inc.

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