Angler and artist — Susan Winter does it all

By DENNIS APRILL, Outdoors Columnist

Outside her gallery on Main Street in Colchester, Vermont reads a sign "Winter Originals." The name is appropriate, for Susan Winter, the gallery’s owner, is an original artist, not to mention a very accomplished outdoorswoman.

Inside the gallery are her sculptures and paintings, many of native trout, and they are among the best renditions anywhere. Although she was born in Burlington, Vt., it is the State of New York that for decades has provided Susan Winter both inspiration and subject matter.

At age 12, Susan sold her first color pencil drawing in the mid 1970’s for $300, a considerable sum back then. While in high school, she was given a scholarship to attend St. Michael’s College for two years. There followed 15 years of working as a floral designer and for a pharmacy; the final six months of that time stretch were devoted to caring for both of her parents who were suffering from cancer.

In 1999 after her parents succumbed to cancer, Susan returned to two of the things she liked best — art and fishing — combining both interests into a series of paintings and sculptures of fish. Her acrylic painting "Brookie in the Brush" had "Highest Bid Honors" at the Trout Unlimited 2000 National Convention.

"The trout in that painting," Winter says, "is based on a strain of brook trout that originated in Rome, N.Y. The beauty of this fish can be found in what I call ‘a tiger tail look’ in the fish’s tail." She goes on to add, "When I first discovered it, I was breathless, thinking to myself, ‘how very wild and very beautiful, I have to paint it.’"

To get the right setting, Winter took more than 300 photos of various streams before finding one she liked.

In addition to painting trout, Winter carves them out of wood and molds them from clay. "Rainbow Dance," an original clay sculpture of a rainbow trout and crayfish, was inspired by a fish she caught in the Saranac River.

In fact, Winter’s angling accomplishments rival her artwork. In a lifetime of fishing, Susan has caught her share of trout, salmon, and even a 40-inch, 15˝-pound northern pike that received a Sports Afield Achievement Award.

"The largest brook trout I’ve ever caught," she adds, "was 16 inches and it was caught in Vermont."

Winter also fishes Lake Ontario for salmon.

Of all her accomplishments, the one Winter is most proud of is being the Main Derby Organizer for the Chittendon County Fish & Game Club’s Free Annual Fishing Derby that brings families together and gives kids an opportunity to learn more about fishing.

" I fished in the Derby when I was a child," she says," and that experience had a positive affect on me."

This Saturday, as part of the Arts Auction to benefit Mountain Lake PBS (Channel 57), Winter’s two most famous works — "Rainbow Dance," a clay sculpture, and a framed Limited Edition of "Brookie in the Brush" — will be auctioned off during the station’s fundraiser.

After the auction, Susan Winter will travel west to pursue her second passion — fishing — by competing in the Lake Ontario Counties Derby, an event her family has participated in for two decades.

When I talked to Susan at the Yankee Sportsman’s Classic in Essex Junction, Vt. last January, a gentleman browsing around her booth asked, "Do you fly fish or use natural bait?"

She replied, "I don’t discriminate. I do it all!" That statement just about sums up Susan Winter, angler and artist.

You can learn more about Susan Winter and her work at http://www.winteroriginals.com/

Susan Winter’s two artworks will be auctioned off Saturday, April 27 at 9:40 p.m. as part of the Mountain Lakes Television Fundraiser. There are a number of other local well-known artists who have contributed art works to be auctioned during the four-day fundraiser. The times are Thurs., April 25 8-11p.m.; Fri., April 26 8-12p.m.; Sat., April 27 7-12:30 p.m.; Sun. April 28 7-12 p.m.