Born in 1946, Susana England came of age in a time of revolution — of color, of music, of spirit. A child of the Baby Boomers generation, she grew up chasing horizons: South America’s mountains, Europe’s canals, the shimmer of Venice on the water. Those early journeys filled her palette with light and texture, and taught her that beauty could be both wild and deeply human. At UC Berkeley, amid the tremors of the 1968 Free Speech Movement, she studied Fine Art and Music. Between brushstrokes and harp strings, she discovered her voice — a language of color and sound that would shape her life’s work. That same year, she performed with Miles Davis and his quartet at the UC Jazz Festival — a moment of pure improvisation that still hums in her memory.After graduation came the inevitable artist’s question:

What’s next?

For Susana, the answer was to turn her art into something people could wear. In a small Berkeley apartment, she began dyeing batik fabrics, transforming silk and cotton into glowing, painterly garments. When Alexis Fretheim invited her to join the White Duck Workshop, Susana became one ofits original designers, creating bold caftans and coats inspired by folklore and fantasy. Their first season sold out — wearable art had found its moment, and Susana was among its pioneers. By the mid-1970s, she launched her own line, SUSANA ENGLAND Designs, blending quilting, appliqué, embroidery, and painterly whimsy into clothing that was less about fashion than expression. Her pieces graced the racks of I. Magnin, Macy’s Union Square, and Henri Bendel, and later, national buyers from Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus brought her work to a wider stage. Each piece was stitched with color, courage, and a sense of freedom— wearable affirmations for those unafraid to stand apart. Over time, Susana’s vision expanded beyond fabric. She began creating wall pieces, handmade paper collages, and greeting cards. They captured her same vibrant storytelling. Her work found homes in the collections of Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health, and her designswere licensed to Image Conscious, ApplejackArt Partners, Sunrise Greetings/Interart, and Barnes & Noble, among others. Whether in cloth or watercolor, she wove a thread of nostalgia — a longing for beauty that endures, even as the world rushes on. Now, in her eighth decade, Susana works from her Rockridge studio, painting and singing her way through the day. Her watercolor series In My Aunt’s Garden hangs at the Acre Gallery, luminous with starlight and memory. She describes her current practice as “art for me” — yet it radiates outward, inviting others to live with color, courage, and joy. “I still wake with imagination and a paintbrush in hand,” she says. “This creative force — it’s addictive. May I continue on the path I started so long ago.”