Crafting a Life of Alternative Choices

Susan Cipcic says the scientist in her compels her to keep a sketchbook journal of everything she does.

It’s a sign of the unconventional route she has taken to her artistic life.

Cipcic calls herself a “Yankee-Southerner hybrid,” born in Pennsylvania but adopting Southern ways after moving to Atlanta.

She was exposed to the arts early while growing up in Pittsburgh because her mother and father, both medical professionals, had active hobbies in the arts.

“I think my mother was the first to notice my talent,” Cipcic says. “She kept a pencil and paper in my hands, encouraging me to draw.”

At Catholic school, one nun, Sister Irene, saw in Cipcic a talent that surpassed others her age and remained her biggest advocate through grade school, entering her drawings in shows and posting them in the hallways.

In junior high, Cipcic was nominated for a major citywide arts program through the Carnegie Museums. The prestigious program accepted only two students from each school for a semester-long program in which students studied, took seminars and workshops on how to paint, and drew the museum’s exhibits, which included mummies, dinosaurs and relics.

“It was a real honor to participate in the program, where I got to go for three straight years. I mean, after all, Andy Warhol was a fellow alumnus, but he was there much earlier than me, of course,” Cipcic says.

She knew she wanted to pursue an arts-related career when she went to college. She aimed to become a medical illustrator, but she learned she would have to combine an art major with a biology minor to have a shot at the field, which lacked female representation.

She earned a biology degree from Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.

But becoming a biologist “wasn’t for me—there are too many endless conferences, endless hours of butt-kissing corporate sponsors and governmental entities, and then there were the additional educational requirements to even be considered hireable,” Cipcic says.

She did assorted jobs for a while after quitting graduate school. One day her brother became involved in the music industry as a buyer for Flo’s Record Stores. He had what seemed the dream job.

So Cipcic decided to go to work for Peaches Record Stores, a franchise that had just settled into the Pittsburgh area. Later, an opportunity brought her to Atlanta, where she worked for Book Smith/Music Smith in the Omni Hotel.

Eventually Turtles Records lured Cipcic away with a better offer and opportunity, but she took a chance and talked management into letting her work in the male-dominated warehouse to gain the product knowledge necessary to be a buyer. She became a new release buyer for a chain that grew from five stores to more than 57 over Cipcic’s seven-year tenure.

Cipcic says that even though she loved her job, art found its way back into her life.

Store managers began asking her to design sale fliers. Soon she was designing the store signs, for which she went back to school to learn silk screening. She earned her certification from the Art Institute of Atlanta, winning the Portfolio Award.

Networking with classmates and instructors landed her a gig with Whole Hog Design and Illustration, a company co-owned by one of her instructors. Cipcic turned down a favorable pay increase from Turtles.

But on her first day of work at Whole Hog, Cipcic arrived to learn the company had been dissolved. She was left without work and without a clue as to what to do.

Cipcic banded with Whole Hog’s four other illustrators and formed a freelancing collective called Top Dog Design and Illustration. The short-lived group was just what Cipcic needed to put her back on the creative track.

“It gave me the confidence (to know) I could go out and draw for a living,” Cipcic says.

She forged her way as a freelance artist. Since launching her first big show in 1988, Cipcic has found herself back in school at various times to further her artistic abilities.

She attended the Atlanta College of Art for painting classes. Shortly thereafter she took ceramics classes at Callanwolde Arts Center until landing in the master’s program at Georgia State University, where she obtained a master of fine arts degree in sculpting.

“What I liked most about graduate school is networking with other classmates and my instructors,” Cipcic says. “Many of them today are art curators, gallery directors and teachers who know my work and open doors that help me earn a living.”

Cipcic is proud of her work and development as an artist, and she is deeply involved with making a difference in the community.

As a member of Tapioca, she and a collective of other artists donate time and talents to community-involved arts projects dealing with the homeless and less fortunate.

She also serves as a member of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, a nonprofit that works with adult day care facilities, centers for abandoned and neglected children, and centers for the mentally disabled.

“My collaborative work has been very important to me in my growth of these past few years,” Cipcic says. “It’s comforting helping others and giving back.”

Contact Cipcic at 770-439-8974 or mssickness@gmail.com.