The retired BellSouth manager says she first realized she was an artist in the seventh grade. Temporarily relocated from Jacksonville, FL to a new school in Pompano Beach, she found herself in an art class.  “And I thought, hey! I can do this! This is great!” But a short month later she was uprooted again. This time, there was no art class at her school, and her inner artist took a backseat for the next thirty years.

 “You know, I knew she was in there,” says Ryles, “but I didn’t know how to get to her. Nor did I have the energy and drive to do it.  A good portion of that time I was a single mom and, as moms do, I wanted to make sure my daughter got what she needed. There was a lot of running around to do - cheerleading, dance classes, drama classes, girl scouts, and pageants. At the same time I was climbing the corporate ladder.” She stops and laughs. “It was a looooong climb. I started at the very bottom in 1974 as an operator. And I tried to have some kind of personal life. Juggling all that was a huge challenge. I didn’t have much left over for art.”           

Not Anymore

Now, with dog Phoenix faithfully at her heels, she shows me Butterfly House Studio, the creative space where the clay artist spends much of her time. Even though it is raining outside her studio seems sunny, filled with butterflies, inspirational quotes, candles and music. One wall is covered with handprints in a rainbow of colors. “Those are the handprints of my family and special friends, the people who support me and hold me up.” she says. On another wall, shelves hold some of her work: hand built clay altars in various stages of construction, and a tray of two-inch clay circles, decorated with symbolic images. These circles are buttons that will become part of The Thread Project:  One World, One Cloth (www.threadproject.com). It’s a world-wide weaving project that brings together threads and weavings that have been collected and donated by women from 70 countries from all seven continents. “They represent people of all ages, cultures, and ideologies,” says Susan, “reminding us that we are ultimately a global family of one.

The clothes will be part of the fifth commemoration of 9/11 in New York City later this year.”

The teal and purple cottage is tucked into the woods behind the dream home she shares with husband Tim Ryles. If you recognize the name, it’s because Tim has been prominent in Georgia politics, serving as Administrator of the Governor’s Office on Consumer Affairs from 1975 to 1981 and State Insurance Commissioner from 1991 to 1995.  He and Susan married in August of 1992.

The two first met in 1987 during a political science class Tim was teaching at the University of Georgia.  He was the Political Education Director for the Communication Workers of America and she was a union leader.  In 1990, their paths crossed again at a convention in Birmingham.  Already well-established with BellSouth in Jacksonville, her daughter a rising senior, Susan listened to her heart and she transferred to Atlanta.

She hadn’t been here long when her path took another turn.  “In May of 1992 I found a lump in my left breast and immediately went in to see my doctor. He didn’t like the feel of it and sent me straight downstairs to a surgeon in the same building.  At first I freaked-out. But then I convinced myself it was probably nothing. I was too young, only 35. Lots of people have fibroids, cysts and lumps and things that turn out to be nothing. So, two weeks later when I went in for the biopsy, I was pretty calm. They brought me out of anesthesia just for a moment to tell me it was malignant. When I woke up, my left breast was gone.”

Susan began radiation and six months of chemotherapy. In July, she and Tim got engaged. In August, they married and combined a houseful of teen-age girls (Tim’s oldest, Rene’, was in college. His youngest, Andrea, and Susan’s daughter, Heather, are only three months apart in age).

Something occurs to me: a cancer diagnosis, a mastectomy, radiation, chemo, marriage, combining households – all within four months? “Is that right?” I ask.

“I know,” she laughs. “What the heck was I thinking? But, you know, at the time, you don’t think about it. You just keep doing the next thing that is in front of you. It wasn’t until it was all over that I fully realized how hard it had been.”           

“I’d been what I guess you’d call a spiritual seeker for a long time.  After the breast cancer it became more urgent. I was longing to fill something, some void. That really started me on a spiritual journey.”             

“By this time I was in management with Bell South, making a 120-mile commute everyday. At work I was totally involved with rolling out a major quality initiative. At home I was mom to two teenage girls and living the life of a political wife – you know, fund raisers and all that sort of thing. It was time to do something for me. So I enrolled in an art class at Callenwolde – and it was wonderful.”           

“One day my sweet husband tore an article out of the New York Times book review and said ‘You should read this.’ And of course, I lost the article.” She laughs. “But not long after that I got a flyer in the mail from an organization called Journey Into Wholeness advertising a workshop being led by Sue Monk Kidd, and it referenced the same book. (Kidd has also written the New York Times best-seller The Secret Life of Bees.) As soon as I got my hands on the book, I knew I had to go to the workshop.

“Kidd’s book was The Dance of the Dissident Daughter. It was a real turning point for me. The religious tradition in which I was raised had no female figures; there was no one I could relate to. And I realized I was looking for that. It really helped me recover a sense of wholeness, and reunited the masculine and feminine parts of my own nature. It changed my life. “

Not long after, Susan signed up for a two-week pilgrimage in France led by Kidd, Terry Helwig (of The Thread Project) and Trisha Sinnott (of Pathway Tours in Decatur) called ‘Dreaming the Goddess in France.’ “It was a really profound experience for me.” says Susan. “For two weeks we traveled throughout France, visiting the most incredible ancient sites, like the caves at Lascaux, Chartres Cathedral and the Church at Rocamadour which is built into the side of a cliff. I had a lot of moving experiences on that trip, but one that really stood out was the day we visited a tiny little place in south Brittany where I saw the Venus of Quinipily. It’s not a famous site or anything like that, it’s way out in the middle of nowhere in the French countryside. The Venus is an ancient, extremely tall, rustic-looking stone statue. It was a gorgeous day, the flowers were blooming, and I was walking around, quietly, sort of meditating on everything I’d seen. I looked up and I could’ve sworn I saw a butterfly on her left breast. I kept staring, and about the time I had convinced myself it was just some lichen growing up there, I saw the wings move.”

“Butterflies have always been special to me.  I used to draw them when I was just a little kid – long before I knew how symbolic they were. The meaning I took from this experience was that I had more work to do on my own self and body image and acceptance of myself. It was so meaningful to me that I actually had a butterfly tattooed on my (reconstructed) left breast when I got back home.”

“My art started to change after that. I’d dabbled in a lot of things, but the first time I sat down and worked with clay I just knew that this was it.” In October of 2001 she attended a week long course at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC and took a course in hand built altars. “It just felt right.” she says. “Juxtaposing the structural element of building with slabs with something spiritual or whimsical reminds me of my own constant striving for balance between the structural, logical, left brain side of myself and the free flowing more playful, creative, right brain side.”

After two more trips abroad, where she studied Christian goddesses in France and the art of the Feminine Divine in Florence, Italy, Susan was ready to retire. It was time to give her artist full reign.           

Her journey shows in her work – altars and ritual pieces that are replete with sacred symbolism. It’s obvious that Susan is a deeply spiritual person, and I ask her if her quest has led her to a different religious tradition. “I think that’s part of what the altars are about for me.” she replies. “Since I don’t have a sacred space I visit, say, in a church, the altars are my way of creating a sacred space in my life.”           

The latest twist in Susan’s journey, as President of the newly formed Tucker Arts Guild, seems tailor made for this woman who has both the artistic sensibility and the business know-how to bring balance to the growing group. The guild meets the third Thursday of every month at 7:00 at Alcove Coffee and Tea on Idlewood Road. At the last meeting, there was standing room only. The fledgling group already has a website (www.tuckerartsguild.org) and over 30 members. “We have a really great core group of people who are so committed to making this happen for Tucker.” She says. “We’re so much further along in so many ways than groups I talked to in other communities who’ve been trying to get off the ground for years. I’m blown away by the amount of talent in Tucker and the support we are getting from the community.”

“We’re currently working on finding a gallery space for the artists to display their work, and are planning on having an artists market as part of the Tucker Celebration on May 13. In addition to showcasing the work of members, we plan to have face painting for the kids, and a space where the community can get involved and create their own sidewalk chalk-art. It’s what this group is about - ‘bringing art to the community and the community to art.”

Susan impresses me as a visionary – someone who sees things not as they are, but as they could be. Asked where she gets her inspiration, her answer is immediate. “My husband and my daughter.  Tim is just a good, honest, solid man whose heart is in the right place. He has a bigger vision of the world than most of us, and that really inspires me. And Heather inspires me. She’s an artist and a mom, and well, what a wonderful woman! She has far exceeded any expectation I ever had for what kind of woman she would become.”           

Anyone else?  “Ghandi.”

“You know, we say we care about the environment and world peace – and then you think, what can I do? What can one little person do to make a difference? I guess what I can do is art. I can use my art to communicate love and peace and respect for Mother Earth.”           

“It’s not like art can change the world…” she stops, smiles, and says what is really in her heart. “Well, maybe art can.”

You can see more of Susan’s artwork at her website: www.susanryles.com, and, be watch for her on an upcoming episode of HGTV’s That’s Clever!