Artist Profile: Susan Marcus Sachs

Susan Marcus Sachs began her art career as a weaver the 1970's. Her college major of occupational therapy required her to take crafts like woodworking and fiber art. “I would flip flop between weaving and occupational therapy.” She eventually began a line of woven clothing called Suma, short for Susan Marcus, all while raising her two children Elizabeth and , a well-known Benicia glass artist.

Marcus Sachs moved to Benicia from Sebastopool in 1986 and settled into a weaving studio until 1992. As her occupational therapy career got busier, she took five years off from art until she joined .

Bill Harsh's mono-print class got her Marcus Sachs into a while new medium. It was Harsh's class where she met artist . In 2005 Marcus Sachs shared a studio with Beville, Connie Millholland and Anne Petty in the Arsenal. The four shared their space for 5 ½ years. This year Marcus Sachs relocated to a smaller studio in the Arsenal with Petty.

Since then, Marcus Sachs has moved into painting abstracts with acrylic. She's taken classes with Linda Grebmeier and is currently working with painter Lee Altman as her teacher and mentor. “I really love textures layers and colors, that comes from weaving. I am playing with different papers and molding paste for more dimension.”

Working with abstract shapes like orbs, Marcus Sachs allows her work to develop on it's own. "Lee (Altman) keeps talking about the layers and the spiritual element, I guess there is. I don't necessarily know the meanings at the time... it's all about layers, we are so multi-layered. That's about as much as I can articulate.”

Layers are a common theme. Although she does paint with brushes, Marcus Sachs loves to paint with her hands and uses a squeegee to remove layers of paint. Since she can only work a couple of hours at a time, she is able to paint layers and allow them to dry until her next session in the studio.

Inspired by her trip to India to visit daughter Elizabeth who was studying there, she was inspired by a particular cave painting of two pillars. “I was just drawn to it.” The image appears in one of her favorite paintings.

Marcus Sachs still manages to balance her art, family and work. Her occupational therapy clinic, Suma Kids in Concord has been in business for nine years with 15 therapists. She consults on all the children at the clinic and does specialised treatment in Visual Perceptual and Therapeutic Listening. Marcus Sachs also does trainings for other professionals in the field.

Although her children are grown, Marcus Sachs and husband Bob Sachs are busy with family and with travel to visit various members of their combined families. “I have a revolving storage unit called my garage.”

The two still manage to get away to places like Belize, enjoy live jazz performances in the San Francisco and wine tasting.