Susan Williams was an American artist. In 1938 she was born Susan Lewis in Chicago, Illinois. She married architect Frank Williams in the 1960s and had her son David in 1969. She was a fraternal twin (Sandy, her sister was an animal rights activist). Williams got her MFA at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, where she initially studied painting, but then moved into three dimensional work. Her time was divided between

San Miguel Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the city lies from Mexico City, 86 km (53 mi) from Quer ...

in Mexico where she maintained a home and studio and Craryville, in upstate New York. In 2015, she died of cancer at home in Craryville with her son at her side; her husband, son, and three grandchildren (Anabelle, Dakota, Juliette) survived her. Williams was an

AIR Gallery A.I.R. Gallery (Artists in Residence) is the first all female artists cooperative gallery in the United States. It was founded in 1972 with the objective of providing a professional and permanent exhibition space for women artists during a time i ...

pioneer and co-founding member. She formed the gallery in 1972 with friend

Barbara Zucker Barbara M. Zucker (born 1940) is an American artist known for her sculpture. she was Professor Emerita, University of Vermont, and based in Burlington, Vermont. Born in Philadelphia, Zucker received a Bachelor of Science degree at the Universit ...

in order to increase the promotion of work by female artists. In addition to her sculptures, Williams worked in plexiglas creating furniture and producing standing lamps, tables and chairs that were sold and exhibited. The sculptures she showed early on at AIR were influenced by the furniture and were large, tall transparent plastic containers filled with newsprint. In 1963, Williams and Barbara Zucker met on Monhegan Island. During the 1960s, they shared an artist's studio on lower Broadway, Chinatown and Little Italy. For a brief period they worked to create sculptures and paintings that were mirrors of each other but all these works were destroyed. After leaving the AIR Gallery, Williams also designed silver jewelry for several years. Her late work is composed of graphic, black and white manipulated photographic images. Her image is included in the iconic 1972 poster Some Living American Women Artists by

Mary Beth Edelson Mary Beth Edelson (born Mary Elizabeth Johnson) (6 February 1933 - 20 April 2021) was an American artist and pioneer of the feminist art movement, deemed one of the notable "first-generation feminist artists." Edelson was a printmaker, book art ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Susan 20th-century American women artists 2015 deaths Artists from Chicago New York University alumni 1938 births 21st-century American women artists 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists