Susan Wallace
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? In a cultivated rustic boathouse. By a lake. Preferably with birdsong.
What are three words to describe your style?
Navy
Navy
and probably navy
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? I shared a childhood bedroom with my darling sister Pam. We whispered stories to each other at night, and awoke to dogwood trees gently wafting outside our windows. Dreamy. .
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? I love my Ibach baby grand, circa 1930. Not only is it beautiful, but it gives me hours of transcendent joy as I run through Chopin, Bach, and a few contemporary favorites. Is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" contemporary?
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer who would it be?
Vitruvius would be an ideal choice, since he advocated for strength, utility, and delight in design. Too often, architecture hits the first two and misses the third..
No room is complete without art of course.
People think of me as an educator, but I am really a student.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement: Chrysanthemums
An hors d’oeuvre platter: toothpicks
A bar cabinet: alcohol
A song for:
Dinner at home: Leslie Odom Jr.'s "Brazil (Aquarela Do Brasil)"
Working at your desk: Helado Negro's "Best for You and Me"
Going for a run: India.Arie's "Get it Together"
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? My Italian greyhound Georgia can never have too many new dog toys.
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Light layers serve me best as I dash from classroom observations to board meetings. These days I'm favoring separates and dresses by SCAD grad Emily Smith, creative director for Lafayette 148 New York, accessorized by alumni crafted jewelry from shopSCAD. Next time you're in Savannah, readers should make time to pop into this wonderland!
Who is your star crush? Colman Domingo: eminently warm, witty, and wise. I could talk to him forever.
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it?
Plates on the wall can look charming in a Cotswolds cottage, but I don’t have one (a Cotswold cottage or a single piece of dinnerware on the wall).
What design book do you find yourself going back to again and again? It would be delightful if the golden light and coziness of all the homes in Beatrix Potter’s books could exist for people, and not reserved only for rabbits, dolls, and mice.
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? As a lifelong educator, I want to be known by the success of my students. That is the dream of my teacher's heart! Our SCAD Bees have illustrious careers, create world-changing inventions, and generally rule the world. Their success is my success! They are my legacy.
A Few Favorites:
Movie: Origin by Ava DuVernay
Book: Charlotte's Web, a timeless story of life and love.
Scent: Molecule 01
Fabric: You can’t beat an Hermès silk scarf. I’ve been known to make oversized pillows from them.
Dream project: SCAD is my dream project. I'm living it.
Meal: I favor my tuna salad prepared with diced celery, sweet pickle relish, a dab of mayo, Dijon, and lemon pepper, served with toasted saltines.
Drink: Iced ginger and green tea.
Hotel:
For breakfast, Claridge’s in London.For friendly staff, Round Hill in Jamaica.
For overall ease and coziness, the Crosby Street in New York.
For garden dinners surrounded by vineyards, La Bastide de Marie near SCAD Lacoste.
Travel Destination: SCAD Lacoste, hands down, nestled into a hillside village in the South of France—especially in summer, olive trees swaying, lavender perfuming the air, cicadas buzzing a boundless serenade.
The village feels like Belle's home in Beauty and the Beast come to life, where locals and SCAD students and alumni mix beautifully with visitors who wander in to experience the wonder of it all, from the 12th-century Church of Saint Trophime to SCAD’s Atelier Caves, the new Musée SCAD Lacoste, SCAD FASH Lacoste (showing Christian Dior through August), and La Promenade de Sculptures, our permanent open-air gallery of contemporary works by alumni and faculty that pays homage to the artistic spirit of the region.
From the Pfriem Terrace of shopSCAD Lacoste, all of Provence seems to unfurl before you in a breathtaking panorama. It's divine. Our students remember their time in Lacoste for the rest of their lives. Guests do, too.
Artist: I have 18,600 favorite artists called SCAD Bees, and they are all available to collectors through SCAD Art Sales!
A cause near and dear to me: Earlier this year, SCAD launched the largest civically focused initiative in our nearly 50-year history: the SCAD SERVE Community Fund, a research-based grants program devoted to addressing hometown needs in the areas of housing, clothing, food, sustainability, safety, and education.
Our first round of grantees include America's Second Harvest, for the development of a Mobile Grocery Market to combat food insecurity across the region with fresh, nutritious provisions; Atlanta's City of Refuge, for a new Workforce Innovation Hub to prepare unemployed and underemployed individuals for STEM careers; and The City of Savannah, helping the Savannah-Chatham Police Department harness the power of cutting-edge tech in public safety.
Thing to collect obsessively: I love assembling vintage charms that I find in flea markets to make bracelets for family and friends.
Era in the history of design: 19th-century architecture
Museum: SCAD is the only university with four teaching museums: The award-winning SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta, SCAD FASH Lacoste, and Musée SCAD Lacoste.
Paint Color that always looks great: Shadow by Benjamin Moore
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: @Peter.Lyden
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? All of the above. Georgia the Italian greyhound is a constant companion. But I love cats, too! "Pawla" Wallace is one of my favorites. I'm honored to be her only follow on Insta. She even made a red carpet appearance at the SCAD Film Festival a few years ago—in a bee costume. STAR POWER!
