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February 21, 2003/Adar1 19 5763, Vol. 55, No. 26
Teacher changes career path
JESSICA BARBER
Staff Writer
Susan Pinkus has turned her lifelong hobby into a budding career.
Over the past two years, Pinkus has carved out time from her job as an art teacher at Kyrene Monte Vista Elementary School in Phoenix to design and create her own line of greeting cards and dinnerware.
"Hopefully I can make as much of an impact with my art as I have with my teaching," says Pinkus.
Pinkus' business, The Art of Susan Pinkus, offers secular and Jewish greeting cards and Dancer Design Dinnerware and Pottery.
"I primarily made pieces as gifts, but I got a really good response and people wanted more," recalls Pinkus. "I found that I needed more designs for different occasions and it just grew and grew. I found that I could make a profit from it."
Pinkus' greeting card line includes cards to commemorate Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Simchat Torah, Hanukkah, b'nai mitzvah and birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, promotions and births. Her secular line includes cards for Valentine's Day, life events, winter holidays, support and sympathy. She also makes specialty invitations for baby showers, weddings, parties and more.
Her ceramic line features plates, bowls, cups and saucers edged with tiny dancing figures that she most commonly makes as wedding gifts.
Her ceramics line also includes menorot and mezuzot.
Eventually, Pinkus hopes to have time to create a series of pieces based on Jewish texts and Kabalistic principles.
"I'm hoping in the future to have Judaica in art galleries," she says. "Perhaps one day I'll have my own gallery, but for now it's just a matter of creating, having the time to create and really learning the business end of things too."
Pinkus derives her inspiration from two sources - dance and Judaism.
"I'm inspired by Jewish spirituality and having that come through in my pieces," she says. "I'm really inspired by music and rhythm also."
Pinkus believes that her interest in art and creation formed around the time of her bat mitzvah.
"I put a lot of focus into (art) at an early age," she recalls. "I studied calligraphy and I was really into Torah study around that time and I think it's really flowered now in my artwork. The greeting cards started out for the Jewish holidays and the secular cards came much later."
Pinkus earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education with a minor in art from the University of Iowa. She has been teaching art for the past nine years, currently to first- through fifth-grade students in the Kyrene district.
"Teaching has seemed to take precedence (in my life)," she says. "But I'm kind of tipping the scale and art is taking precedence."
Pinkus plans to take a leave of absence next year to work on her business full time.
Pinkus' art is available online at www.dancerdesignware.com. She is in the process of getting her designs licensed and hopes to have them available in retail stores soon.
Pinkus is a member of Ruach Hamidbar - Spirit of the Desert and a Phoenix resident. She also attends classes at the Center for Spiritual Growth and is the exhibits chairwoman on the board of the Arizona Art Education Association.
"I love being able to make an income from my artwork and designs," says Pinkus. "Hopefully it will really take off."
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