Stone Mountain Artist Explores Contradictions in Human Nature

Clay sculptures reflect the metamorphosis of life.

When you walk into Butterfly House Studio in downtown Stone Mountain it’s apparent that the artist behind the work, Susan Ryles, is open to change. A brief tour of her studio displays an amazing variety of clay sculptures, each with its own story. Colorful necklaces with ceramic pendants, jewel-toned, shapely altars, a ceramic pair of beaters, a prickly sea-green wall sconce that looks as if it was just dredged from the sea — each original, hand-built and unique. “I am interested in exploring the psychology of the self, my own aging process, gender roles and expectations, as well as the social psychology of politics and religion,” Ryles writes in her artist statement. The butterfly, a symbol for metamorphosis with its life cycle from …

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