Susan Shaftan Perrin

Susan is a woman of many talents: a thoughtful and focused business analyst, a fine and applied artist, a gardener and nature lover, a longtime herbal and holistic-health student and advocate, a good friend, a loving wife and the hard working mother of a fine teenage boy. As a multi-media artist working primarily in ceramics, Susan makes functional art pottery. She also paints, photographs daily, and creates mixed media sculpture. Inspired by nature, her work is beautiful to look at, to hold and to use.

With extensive experience in management, education, and the arts, Susan’s “day job” has focused on the maintenance of financial wellness, nurturing inspiration, and the creation of successful community programs. She directs positive growth by supporting the needs and strengths of individuals, small businesses, schools, non-profits, and other organizations through her business Balanced Consulting. Since moving upstate from Jersey City 15 years ago, she has served as the Operations Manager for a solar company, the Executive Director of the Rondout Valley Growers Association, and the Office & Logistics Manager for Allaire Studios.

Susan earned her BA in Creative Expression from Empire State College and studied traditional pottery in Japan. She has developed arts curriculum, taught as an artist in the schools, and most recently was awarded 2 education grants from Arts Mid-Hudson. Susan and her husband (also an artist) created UrthArts Center of Samsonville, a nature and arts space which has held small classes and intergenerational art workshops for more than 10 years. Having grown up in NYC, she now lives halfway up a mountain on a dead end road in an artsy house surrounded by flowers.