[A line of Topographic Pillows Handmade in Saratoga Springs.]
The map of Susan Rivers' life winds throughout New York State. During her childhood in NYC, the Garment District provided an early education that would serve Susan for the rest of her life. Her grandfather brought home fabric swatches from his job at a shirt manufacturer. While playing with the samples, Susan taught herself to sew. Eventually those skills (as well as the textile scraps) morphed into quilting -- "not a very popular avocation in the Bronx in the '60s and '70s," Susan admits. With textiles mastered, Susan flexed the technical side of her brain and attended the Bronx High School of Science, then SUNY Binghamton, and eventually Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The move to RPI took her to the Capital region, and Susan now lives and works in Saratoga Springs. Susan's obvious fascination with New York's geographic range manifested itself in a commemorative topographic quilt (with full display of the mountain range's rugged terrain) in honor of a friend's "bagging" of all 46 Adirondack peaks.
Susan's Greentree Fiber Arts line of handmade, site-specific topographic pillows are a nice souvenir from trips made throughout the Empire State, and a reminder of the travels ahead.
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