Sue Flanders first touched clay her senior year, 1981, at the College of St. Benedict, in St. Joseph, Minn. Under the watchful eye of Sr. Dennis Frandrup, she learned technical throwing skills. Frandrup wouldn’t allow students to keep any pots in the first month; she would slice each “masterpiece" to expose imperfections and lead her students to understand the goals of pot construction.
Sue maintains a studio in Mora, Minnesota and is currently working with white stoneware and firing her pots to cone 6 in one of her two electric kilns. “I get great satisfaction from working every step in the ceramic process”, says Sue.. Her studio name is “Kilns of Flanders”, where she shares the studio with her potter husband, Chuck.
She also enjoys teaching workshops in East Central Minnesota at Sapsuckers Farms, Annandale Art and Textile Center, American Swedish Institute and Avon Hills Folk School.
Primarily self taught after attending an arts high school, I fell deeply in love with oil painting landscapes in 2021. In October 2023, I took a felting class and was smitten. Needle felting as fine art has allowed me to stretch and grow in new ways as an artist. Using the same principles & elements of design, color theory, and eye for detail that I apply to my paintings, I’m on a quest to blend and layer fibers to render realistic scenes in wool.
I live in rural Buffalo, MN with my wonderful husband, 2 dogs, cat & 8 chickens. My garden compositions, oil paintings & felts can be seen at restaurants & homes around Minneapolis & west metro.