In Susan Wechsler’s Evergreen, Colorado studio, beauty begins in fragments. Shards of antique china, glints of crystal, beads, stones, metal rings, glass, family keepsakes, and found objects. These objects may seem random or disparate, but for Susan, they are meant to be gathered, sorted, studied, and eventually transformed into something entirely new.
What others might overlook or discard, Susan sees as a possibility. In her hands, these ordinary bits of refuse take on new form. A fine art mosaic artist with both a BFA and an MFA, Susan has built a career as distinctive as the work itself.
Though formally trained in fine art, she is a self-taught mosaic artist, guided by instinct, experimentation, and decades of dedicated practice. Her work redefines the boundaries of mosaic art, blending the discipline of pattern and placement with the dimensional richness of sculpture and assemblage. But she didn’t start that way. The first steps on Susan’s artistic journey were deeply personal. The first pieces that called her into the world of mosaic were broken fragments of her grandmother’s china.
From those small, sentimental shards, Susan discovered a language of her own. Over time, that language evolved into a powerful visual vocabulary made from stone, crystal, beads, porcelain, organic materials, and memory. Following her own path, Susan’s art career began with resistance. On one side, her teachers questioned her direction, while on the other, family members encouraged her to pursue more “practical” choices.
But Susan felt the pull of art too strongly to ignore it. Early in her career, a gallery show changed everything. Her work sold, her confidence grew, and she realized that art was not just something she loved. It was something she could build a life around. She never looked back.
Today, Susan is sought after by discerning collectors who commission her work to bring presence, depth, and soul into private homes and architectural spaces. Her mosaics live beautifully in city residences, mountain retreats, and personal sanctuaries, each piece designed to feel both timeless and entirely original. No two works are ever repeated. Every composition is hand-laid, rooted in patterns and techniques Susan has developed over decades, yet each carries its own unique rhythm and story.
“Art is a journey like life,” Susan says. “There is no beginning or end for me, it is just who I am and what I do.”
That sense of art as a lifelong journey is visible in every detail of her work.
“I like to repurpose and upcycle everything,” Susan says. “After my mom’s passing, I have a lot of my mom’s things, like semi-precious stones, antique china plates, and costume jewelry that I incorporate into my work. What I love is that I can honor my mom by using her memories in my art.”
That act of honoring is central to Susan’s practice. Her mosaics are not simply decorative. They are deeply layered, emotionally resonant works that preserve memory while reshaping it into something enduring. Through small nostalgic elements, she makes the past feel present again. She pieces together fragments of life, then offers them back as landscapes, symbols, textures, and light. Look closely, and her surfaces begin to reveal themselves. Tree trunks emerge through vertical slats of colored glass.
Leaves form from precisely placed china triangles. Mountain ridges rise from marbled glass beneath skies of sliced porcelain. Skimming blues move past twisted trunks, while crystals catch the light like hidden details waiting to be found.
Each glance reveals something new, a small discovery tucked within the larger composition. This work is the cornerstone of her art. For Susan Wechsler, mosaic art is more than a medium. It is a way of seeing. It is the belief that every fragment has value, every memory has texture, and every broken piece can become part of something beautiful.
