Susan E. Riley is a visual artist who works in several different mediums, including Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Fashion Design, and Architecture.

Born in New York and raised mainly in Greenwich Village, creativity was ingrained from an early age.

She vividly remembers the legacy of Abstract Expressionism and the 1960s movement toward Abstract Minimalism and Color Field painting—from Robert Motherwell to Hans Hoffman, Mark Rothko, Kenneth Nolan, and Ellsworth Kelly these painters would forever shape her design aesthetic.

Her education at The Fashion Institute of Technology would begin her love affair with simple shapes and designs. Spending her days sketching, designing, draping, making patterns, and working with color and fabric all contributed greatly to her future career in the snow ski apparel business.

With the Women's Liberation Movement in full swing, Susan became a pioneer in the male-dominated skiwear business and one of the first women to travel the U.S. independently of a man, working for the most prestigious company, Bogner Skiwear.

And now, a second love takes hold - her love of Architecture. After designing and building her contemporary cottage in Harbor Springs, Michigan, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago was her next stop. Line, shape, scale, proportion, and balance all come together as she

designs residences, commercial buildings, and even boathouses.

But the call to create her fashion design label, Susan E. Riley Couture, won out, leading to a 25-year career as a Fashion Designer - sketching, creating collections, pattern making, draping, color mixing, selecting fabric, producing, and doing all the business that goes with it.

Although Susan has been painting and creating her entire life, in 2017, her world of Fashion Design, Architecture, and Painting collided, and her abstract paintings took shape. Fascinated by her couture dress patterns, she starts to assemble. Bringing all the elements of her background together, she creates the series" Simplicity, "inspired by the Simplicity many of us strive for in an overly technological world and the desire to simplify as we age. In 2019," Simplicity" was featured in The Spotlight Gallery at The Cornell Art Museum, Delray Beach, Florida

Truly,

Susan E. Riley