Nestled in a wooden rocking chair outside of a whimsical purple house located off of Oberlin Road, sits artist Susan Woodson, but this house is not her home. Woodson lives in a mansion overlooking Lake Raleigh with her husband, Chancellor Randy Woodson. The purple house, on whose porch she frequently finds herself sitting is, however, the home of her art gallery, Roundabout Art Collective. 

Woodson said she named the gallery after the nearby roundabouts on Hillsborough Street and Oberlin Road, which she said were a source of amusement for her when she arrived at N.C. State.

“After they finished the roundabouts on Hillsborough, it was hilarious how people tried to drive on them and cause so many problems,” Woodson said. “It was the focal point when we moved here and had our place right on Hillsborough.”

Woodson’s love for art was sparked as a child and pushed her, eventually, to pursue a degree in the subject. In keeping with the wishes of her father, who insisted she find a way to incorporate her love with something that would be able to support her, Woodson graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in art education.

In Bentonville, Ark., Woodson taught seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade art for a year before realizing the rigid timetable was something she couldn’t live with.

“My style is very flexible. My life is very flexible,” Woodson said. “It just didn’t work for me.”

After marrying Randy, Woodson moved to Ithaca, N.Y., where she fed her interest in graphic design. 

“I did that for 30 years,” Woodson said. “I had experience, computer skills … I was always able to get a job. When we moved to Indiana, I started a magazine with my editor called HELEN. It was for the women of the community.”

After moving again, Woodson found herself in here North Carolina, and for the first time in 30 years, without a deadline.

“After we moved here I said, ‘Oh! I don’t have a deadline. Yay!”’ Woodson said. “I had lived with one for 30 years and I wanted to get back to the arts and my first love: painting.”

According to Woodson, Roundabout Art Collective became her reason to paint again.

“I always painted a little, but only here and there,” Woodson said. “But starting this made me really get back into painting and selling. It’s the whole idea of being an artist. It’s what I really love.”

According to Woodson, just about everything inspires her artwork.

“Being a graphic designer, I love shapes and colors,” Woodson said. “Using the basic skills of design and incorporating some abstract expression, from that I create my style. The beauty of this area, my dogs, the colors of the world, it’s all amazing to me.”

Henri Matisse, one of Woodson’s favorite artists, is who she looks to for a large part of her creative inspiration.

“Matisse worked with shapes, lines and designs all of which are amazing,” Woodson said. “A more current inspiration is Joan Mitchell. She’s a big abstract artist.”

Woodson refuses to sit down while painting, opting to stand instead so she can paint, most frequently with acrylics, using big strokes.

“I use my table as a pallet and I like to paint with a palette knife when I’m not using my hands,” Woodson said. “I even sometimes use the dry paint on the table for some texture in my paintings.”

Woodson mainly paints on paper and sometimes incorporates oils into her works. However, it’s how she frames her work that she finds truly exciting, Woodson said.

“Being a graphic designer, paper is something you really get into and work with,” Woodson said. “I do a lot of mixed media.”

According to Woodson, she never really becomes attached to the pieces she creates.

“I love for people to fall in love with a piece and for them to take it home,” Woodson said. “The one piece I can’t seem to part with though is currently hanging up in my bedroom. It’s called What Was Paradise But A Garden. It’s not even the best one that I’ve done. There’s just something about it that makes it my favorite piece.”

Though she said she hopes to one day become a famous artist, Woodson said that right now, she’s focused on Roundabout’s growth and the installment of the Gregg Museum.

“I want to keep Roundabout going,” Woodson said. “I want it to get bigger and better and stronger. I want it to be a destination place for people who come to town. I want people to view N.C. State as an arts community. I’m focused on the Gregg Museum, and, as the honorary chair, it’s thrilling to be working on getting the extension ready and running. I want the public to come to what we have here to see the art instead of us always traveling downtown.”