STEAMBOAT SPRINGS- Susan Schiesser’s love of water directly influenced her work. It’s rare you will find a piece of hers without a body of water or an aquatic creature, and the painting, “Moose Drool,” which appeared on the cover of Volume 13, Edition 1 of the Yampa Valley Arts & Culture Guide, is no exception.

Susan Schiesser's cover of Volume 13, Edition 1 of the Yampa Valley Arts & Culture Guide. 

Schiesser’s graphic design background inspired this dynamic and graphic-arts-driven piece. “I wanted the moose to really stand out,” she said in an interview about the piece. “I wanted it to be bold and attention-grabbing.” 

Schiesser studied painting and welding at the San Francisco Art Institute, and began visiting Steamboat Springs during that time. 

She relocated to the Yampa Valley in 1997, submerged herself in the local arts scene, and owned and operated her personal gallery, Red Contemporary, for many years throughout her career.

Schiesser often employed vibrant color in her art. “My work has progressed into a fusion of all the different periods and styles of painting that I’ve learned,” Schiesser said.

“Susan’s loss will be profoundly felt in Steamboat Springs. She not only had a generous spirit and a quirky sense of humor, she also had enormous talent,” says Deborah Olsen, publisher of Ski Town Media, Inc.

Susan Schiesser's cover of Volume 8, Edition 2 of the Yampa Valley Arts & Culture Guide. 

“Over the years, she was always an eager contributor to the Yampa Valley Arts & Culture Guide. She entered almost every edition’s cover contest – she won several of them – and helped to judge the ones she didn’t enter,” Olsen says. “Her work was sometimes hard to spot because she went through so many different periods in her career. She did abstract interpretations of aerial landscapes, portraiture, abstract art, water lilies and whimsical pieces, to name a few.” 

The courageous artist and passionate member of Steamboat Springs’ Creative District will be deeply missed. 

Susan Schiesser’s work will be available for purchase and her art supplies will be donated to artists in the Steamboat Springs community. More details coming soon.