Biography
Glass and Grout is the artist persona of Susan Altman. She has called Medford home for more than three decades, having grown up on Long Island (NY) and lived in Poughkeepsie, New York City, and San Diego, plus a brief stint in Watertown MA. She’s always loved making things and was considered "crafty" as a kid, but was simply awful at drawing and almost flunked art in seventh grade. (Can you even DO that?) Thinking she wasn’t cut out to be an artist, Susan found mosaics in about 2006, following on the heels of graphic design, watercolor, pastels, wheel-thrown pottery, quilting, and jewelry design. She also has a master’s degree in environmental policy from Tufts and specialized in environmental communications for government and nonprofit organizations.
Susan also serves on the board of ArtsMedford, the planning team for MARV the Medford Arts Resource Vehicle, and Arts Collaborative Medford. In her spare time she manages an academic journal called Global Environmental Politics.
Artist's Statement
Susan makes mosaic art, jewelry, and other things, especially from discarded materials. She loves colors and building things, and likes her art to serve a function. She includes "trash" into her work whenever possible: wood from construction projects, banged up pots and pans, broken pottery, keys and hardware, discarded furniture, bottle caps, rocks, seashells, parts of old plates and teapots, and once-loved toys. She makes wall hangings, free-standing sculptures, stepping stones and garden ornaments, and jewelry. She also loves community projects and is busy at work on several of them!