The multi-disciplinary artist Susan Napack is a transplant to Salem Oregon from the metropolitan New York City suburbs of New Jersey, not far from the town where she grew up. For college, she moved south to Pennsylvania where she earned her BFA at Philadelphia College of Art (the erstwhile University of The Arts). Graduate studies at Pratt Institute brought her to Brooklyn, NY before coming full circle back to New Jersey where she commuted to various teaching and design jobs in New York City. In 2000, Susan settled into a full-time Art Director position at the once legendary publishing giant, Time Inc.
Wherever she has lived and worked, Susan has been actively involved with the art community and has exhibited her diverse work at local venues and beyond. In Salem she found a welcoming community where she has exhibited at High Street Gallery, Salem Art Association’s Bush Barn and Annex, Salem on The Edge Gallery and at Studios at The Mill at The Willamette Heritage Center where she has an art studio.
Susan’s work springs from a fascination with the mysteries of the natural world which she explores, mostly in the abstract, using materials and processes that range from found objects, to drawing, to digital printing, to needle felting and stitchery — sometimes, all at once.
Early on, even as a painter, photography opened the door to abstraction, with the camera’s ability to isolate geometry, texture, and natural forms. It remains a favorite tool and is the foundation for much of her work.
From early childhood, Susan has been a collector and organizer of objects. Wishbones & orange peels still make their way into her Cabinet of Curiosity-inspired installations.
A major focus of her work is transforming ephemera of her past. From school report cards to close to 20 years of NJ Transit train passes, they represent a life lived and experiences lost to time. Her installation, Memory Project: Timeline began as an effort to organize and display these relics. In Memory Project: Shreds, the artist shredded and transformed letters, datebooks, girl scout badges, sonogram films, and other objects in an effort to re-use and eventually release them. She continues to transform documents into paper and paper clay which she embellishes with bits of mostly indecipherable correspondence.
In her stitched work, the artist embroiders on digital photographs printed on silk or other fabric. Her recent image preoccupations have been with the body: hearts, MRI images and X-rays of her own body, and autographs of friends from her past.
In addition to her art and design practice, Susan has always gravitated to community involvement wherever she has lived. In Salem Oregon, she serves as the Outreach Chair of her Grant Neighborhood Association, and she chairs the Salem Public Art Commission.
In her decades of involvement with Pierro Gallery in South Orange New Jersey, Susan participated in curating and organizing varied exhibitions. She is excited about co-curating the upcoming exhibition Persistent Voices - Six Artist’s Responses with Kathy Dinges of Salem Art Association in the A.N. Bush Gallery. An exploration of the female experience in today’s art, the exhibition was on view from May 2-June 29, 2025.
Susan’s can be seen at Studios at The Mill at The Willamette Heritage Center in Salem Oregon during their Open Studios or by appointment.
To view samples of her commercial design work, click here.