Susan Hotard artist is a former interior designer, and her technical mastery is no small accomplishment considering she painted only occasionally until 1999. Equally impressive is her ability to relate a story to the viewer through the arrangement of the objects, and, in fact, this aspect of her work is the most compelling to her. "I enjoy infusing inanimate objects with personality and using them in a story line," Hotard says. "Sometimes the story comes first and sometimes it comes after setting objects up." In each still life, Hotard seeks to convey a given moment—the way the objects were arranged and how they were illuminated. From this foundation she employs her superb technique in the service of the emerging narrative. Since 2000, Susan Fleming Hotard has participated in over a dozen solo and group shows. In 2002 she won The Gwendolyn Laan Ozols Award, the highest honor at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. (courtesy www.myamericanartist.com)