Susie Chisholm: Savannah's Sculptor of People

Johnny Mercer in Ellis Square

Susie Chisholm is a native of Savannah. She also has developed a nationwide reputation as a sought-after sculptor of monuments, usually to individuals. She calls herself a portrait sculptor. She states,’ I do a great deal of research for all the historical projects I have been involved in. I investigate the subject’s history and personality, physical attributes, and the appropriate period clothing they would have worn. Historical accuracy is paramount and is the trademark of my sculptures.’ Her favorite quote that is placed in her studio reads, “It is not how life-like you make a sculpture, but how much life you give it.”,

 Her sculpture of Savannahian Johnny Mercer has become one of the more photographed pictures from Savannah. She implements a picture of the songwriter Mercer from the New York Times sitting on a fire hydrant reading the paper and makes it come to life on Ellis Square. A Savannahian sculpting a Savannahian to such acclaimed success is a testimony to the art town, Savannah. Chisholm was not always a sculptor. In fact, she became a sculptor late in life. She took a class in sculpture and fell in love with the art form. She says she was always an artistic person even from childhood.  With her father as an architect, and her mother with a degree in Interior Design, Susie's natural artistic talent was encouraged and developed with private art instruction during her childhood.   She spent her childhood summers at the popular Brookgreen Gardens in Myrtle Beach, SC. The garden was founded by Anna Hyatt Huntington one of our nation’s greatest sculptures. This fact may have opened the door in her heart and mind that she too could become a sculptor in what was and is a world dominated by men. Early on she would study graphic design at Georgia Tech. ‘She used her design skills in various jobs, including designing paper bags, creating billboard designs, and designing and building exhibits for the Savannah Science Museum’. Although she was able to make a career in graphic design and marketing it did not fulfill her artistic yearnings. This was not done until her class in sculpture.

It is amazing how prolific she has become when she was such a late bloomer when it came to sculpting. Any sculptor would have been proud of the previously mentioned Mercer sculpture but that is only the beginning of her oeuvre. She was commissioned for a monument to the resort island founder of Hilton Head Island Charles Fraser. Notably she captures Fraser on a walk with his trademark umbrella and pet alligator. She has recently sculpted short term Savannah resident buried here in Johnson Square (our first Historic Square) Nathaniel Greene. This sculpture stands in Valley Forge National Park.

But her monuments are not confined to the Savannah area or people. She has a sculpture of environmentalist Rachel Carson on Purdue University, Founding Father Sam Adams at the Boston Tea Party Museum, The Garden a sculpture of a woman relaxing in a garden in Benson Sculpture Garden in Loveland, Colorado, and others. Her sculpture Quiet Time and Quiet Time in the Park can be found in several libraries.

Chisholm also has sponsored sculpture schools in Savannah and has taken on apprentices. She has been a promoter of sculpting in Savannah. As her work expands nationally and locally, she bears witness to Savannah as an arts city. She reminds us that not every artist is a transplant, but many are coming through our own schools and neighborhoods. We are reminded that as Savannah supports the arts and artists from anywhere, we grow a more thoughtful and creative class. Maybe one day we will not be noted as an arts city but as the art city.

---

Charles Fraser of Hilton Head Island

Sam Adams at Boston Tea Party Museum

Nathaniel Greene at Mount Vernon National Park

Rachel Carson squatted teaching child at Purdue University