A Creative Journey in Review – The Sculpture of Susan Livingston
Susan Livingston has been deeply connected to the natural history of the Tampa Bay region since she moved here from New York over 50 years ago. She began her formal art studies at the Ringling Art School in Sarasota and continued her education at Florida State University, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting. Her post-graduate studies emphasized East Asian Studies and Marine Science, both of which have had a lasting impact on her illustrious artistic career.
On Friday, January 2nd, 2026, Brenda McMahon Gallery will host the first in a series of creative reviews of Livingston’s celebrated works. Livingston will be on-hand to greet visitors and collectors and to discuss her decorated career.
After college, Livingston found both a job in Alaska and dissatisfaction with her direction as a painter. She returned to the Gulf Coast and ultimately discovered clay as a new medium for her artistic expression. Her early works focused on geometric designs, based on the idea that all art forms stem from fundamental shapes. These pieces blend classical forms with contemporary images and often incorporate letters from a unique alphabet she developed, reminiscent of hieroglyphics. Many of her works contain hidden messages using the letters she created.
And then came the dugong rib.
A dugong is a relative of the manatee, but Susan perceived something very different in the fossil handed to her by a member of the Tampa Bay Fossil Club.
“The color was fantastic,” Livingston said. “It was so intriguing. I started a new type of work!”
Livingston began to envision how her newfound interest in fossils could be integrated into her art. She started combining original clay shapes with fossils, drawing both her medium and inspiration from the earth. She uses Florida fossils, which she either purchases or personally digs up, dating back to the Pliocene and Pleistocene eras. This new type of work opened opportunities for her to explore line, form, and color, which she found creatively gratifying.
Livingston enrolled in a paleo-oceanography class at the University of South Florida to learn more.
“We went on a shell tour and discovered million-year-old fossils—mammoth teeth, camel teeth—just along the beaches,” she says. “I got really excited.”
Livingston creates structures and shapes that express a wide-ranging artistic vision and finds a deep connection with fossils in her work with clay. The fossils establish a relationship between time and matter, allowing her to visualize the past while bringing new forms and shapes to life in the present.
One aspect of the fascination with fossils is the realization that Florida has been a subject of study for nearly 200 years due to its fossil-rich sediments. Livingston has examined fossilized remains of camels, saber-toothed tigers, sharks, mastodons, mammoths, giant sloths, giant tapirs, and other extraordinary creatures.
“As I collected more fossils, I began to appreciate their beautiful shapes, stunning colors, and unique textures,” Livingston explains. “Incorporating them into my clay work is both intellectually stimulating and artistically challenging, and it has revitalized my approach to creating.”
The fossils introduce shapes, forms, colors, and textures that provide her pieces with a natural dimension not commonly found in other art forms. They also bring a historical and organic quality to her sculptures. Drawing upon her knowledge of Florida’s geographic and oceanographic history, she utilizes fossils and the raw earth in her work as a creative expression of the intimate relationship between land, sea, and animals.
Livingston’s work is highly sought after by art collectors and connoisseurs worldwide. Her pieces are included in several notable permanent collections, such as those of film producer Steven Spielberg, the American Embassy in Barbados, Saks Fifth Avenue, and the University of Oklahoma. Additionally, her artwork can be found in local collections, including The Ringling Museum in Sarasota, and now at Brenda McMahon Gallery in Gulfport.
If You Go:
A Creative Journey in Review –The Sculpture of Susan Livingston
Brenda McMahon Gallery
Artist Reception and Opening: January 2nd, 2026 – 6–9 p.m.
Display: January 1 – January 31, 2026
