Spending her childhood in southern California, Susan Kliewer showed early art talent which was encouraged by her family. For eight years, she prepared sculpture for bronze casting in a foundry for well-known Arizona sculptors John Hampton, Joe Beeler, and Buck McCain. In 1988, she decided to do her own sculpting, and in 1991 won the People's Choice Award at the juried National Sculpture Walk in Sedona, Arizona.

A key mentor has been Ken Ottinger at the Sedona Art Center, and she also took anatomy classes at Northern Arizona State University. Her subjects are Navajo people, many whom have become close friends....