Susan Kliewer Biography

Click to view available sculptures by Susan Kliewer or paintings by Susan Kliewer

 

Susan Kliewer, Changing Woman, Bronze, 60" x 21" x 12"

 

Susan Kliewer, a native of California, has lived in Arizona for nearly 30 years, five of them at Marble Canyon Trading Post in a remote area of Northern Arizona near the Colorado River.

 

Susan Kliewer, Julian, Bronze Edition of 45, 28" x 12" x 12"

 

Dreams of horses, deserts, canyons, rivers and sunsets have been her constant companions since she was a child. A painter since the age of 10, she turned to sculpting in 1987 after working in an art casting foundry for 10 years.

 

Susan Kliewer, Kinaalda: Coming of Age, Bronze Edition of 50, 11" x 12" x 27"

 

Susan won a competition to create a monument of Sedona Schnebly. The ten-foot tall bronze figure was installed in front of the Sedona Library in 1994. Her life-size fountain portraying the Sinagua people and a fountain of a Hopi Water Maiden are also to be found in Sedona.

 

Susan Kliewer, Lozen-Warrior Woman, Bronze Edition of 45, 11" x 10" x 28"

 

"My work," she says, "aims to show the common thread that underlies all human experience, and which I hope brings us to a greater understanding between all peoples."

 

Susan Kliewer, Maynard Dixon: At Last I Shall Give Myself to the Desert Again, Bronze Edition of 45, 24" x 12" x 9"

 

She often uses her Navajo friends and grandchildren as models to capture that special intimacy which is the hallmark of her work. Her depiction of the ways of Native Americans in everyday life, from the past as well as the present, has attracted major collectors from all over the world.

 

Susan Kliewer, Sinagua, Monumental and Maquette Bronze

 

Selected Awards and Exhibitions:

• 2019 "Along the Distant Mesa: An Homage to Maynard Dixon" Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
• 2017 "25th Anniversary Celebration" Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
• 2013-17 - Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West, Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ
• 2008 - Present - Navajo Monumental Village commission, Na 'Aina Kai Botanical Gardens, Hawaii
• 2010 - Two-Person show with Ray Roberts titled "Diné," Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
• 2009 - Best of Show, 40th Annual Contemporary Western Art Show and Sale, Mountain Oyster Club, Tucson, AZ
• 2009 - First Place Award, Sedona Art Center Annual Show "Southern Plains Dancer"
• 2009 - "Trappings of the American West" Dry Creek Arts Fellowship, Flagstaff, AZ
• 2008 - First Place Sculpture Award, Cowgirl Up, Desert Cabelleros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ "Mischievous Ones"
• 2007 - Governor's Choice Award, Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West, Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ
• 2001 - Solo show with Sculpture Lecture, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
• 2001 - Won the Olaf Wieghorst Award at the 32nd annual Contemporary Western Art Show and Sale, held at the Mountain Oyster Club in Tucson, Arizona for sculpture "Fancy Shawl Dancer."
• 2001 - "In Celebration: A Century of Arizona Women Artists" Desert Caballeros Western Museum, AZ
• 1992-1994 - Sculpted "Sedona Schnebly" for City of Sedona, a competition sponsored by the Red Rock Arts Council. "Sedona Schnebly" stands 10 feet high, and is installed in front of the Sedona Library.
• 1993 - Juror's Award, Sedona Sculpture Walk for sculpture "The Gift."
• 1991 - Won People's Choice Award for Sedona Sculpture Walk. Sculpture: "Navajo Sport."
• 1990 - Enlarged and sculpted Borglum's "Cowboy at Rest" monument for the city of Prescott, Arizona.

Selected Collections:

• Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, Georgia
• Museum of Indian Culture and Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ
• Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, AZ
• Na 'Aina Kai Botanical Gardens, Hawaii

Selected Publications:

• Western Art Collector, January 2021
• Art of the West, feature article, May/June 2020
• "Maynard Dixon's American West: Along the Distant Mesa" by Mark Sublette, 2018
• Western Art Collector, July 2018
• Western Art Collector, March 2018
• “25th Anniversary Celebration” Show catalog, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, 2017
• "Susan Kliewer: Open Hearts and Minds" Western Art Collector, March 2015
• "Artist Focus: Susan Kliewer - Sculpting Navajo Life" Western Art Collector, April 2013
• "Western Artist Focus: Susan Kliewer - Native Calling" Western Art Collector, August 2011
• "Western Artist Focus: Susan Kliewer - Native Influences" Western Art Collector, March 2011
• "Susan Kliewer: Cultural Interpreter" Western Art Collector, April 2010
• "Susan Kliewer: Expressions of the Heart" Western Art Collector, April 2009
• "On a Grand Scale: Susan Kliewer" Southwest Art, July 2007
• "Open Portfolio: Susan Kliewer" Sedona Monthly, 2006
• "Sculpting Maria Martinez: Arizona sculptor Susan Kliewer portrays the renowned potter in clay" Southwest Art January 2001

 

Susan Kliewer, Spirit Wind, Bronze, 29" x 14" x 21"