Suzanne Vinson in her Fulton Hill studio
When Suzanne Vinson was a young teen attending summer camp, a youth minister told the group that God needs people to care for one another. “I can do that,” she recalls thinking.
Today, Vinson is an ordained minister who still believes in the importance of uplifting others. “We’re each better for making another’s day brighter, for … creating conditions that help our communities as a whole,” she says.
Also an artist, Vinson is known for delivering joy, compassion, comfort and serenity — often with a paintbrush. She sees art as an integral component of her ministry, which includes pastoral care, chaplaincy, compassionate listening and creative spirituality. Her 2018 book of prayers, “Broken Wide Whole,” also contains three dozen watercolor works.
Vinson refers to her business as “soul care” and says it is vital. “Our lives are so very full — we often receive more information than we can process,” she explains. “We see the pain of the world and carry that close to heart. We need moments of pause where we can process our feelings and experiences and awaken to the resilience, courage, gratitude and verve inside of us.”
Living and working in the Fulton Hill neighborhood a few blocks from the James River, Vinson says her watercolor paintings and acrylic mixed-media pieces are often inspired by walks along the water. “Today I found red berries and sweet yellow blossoms,” she says, adding that she’ll start using the colors in her art as well as incorporating “the feeling I have when walking the trails, receiving the goodness the air and earth provide.”
Vinson’s inspirational sticker art
Known for greeting cards that combine her paintings with handwritten words of wisdom, Vinson offers her work via her online shop, Silver Tree Art, which is how many people first discover her, including Letia Drewry from Hampton. “They were unique and immediately captured my attention,” Drewry says of the cards’ jewel-toned palettes and abstract watercolors. “They are timeless snippets of art and insight that I have given as gifts to remind and encourage.” The cards’ messages, she adds, inspire her to “catch sight of what is good and hold on.”
Originally from Mississippi, Vinson moved to Richmond in 2001 to attend the now-shuttered Baptist Theological Seminary on Brook Road, where she earned her Master of Divinity degree; she also holds a master’s in education from Mississippi College. In addition to creating inspirational artwork, her ministry includes presiding over ceremonies, presenting lectures, facilitating bereavement groups, and leading in-person and online workshops and retreats.
“What I don’t do is tell people what to think or what to believe,” Vinson says. “What I do is create a space that they can inhabit, that I hope is a safer place, and invite whatever good energy and soul care they need to be found.”
A selection of Vinson’s paintings
Janel Abel, who attended Vinson’s workshop on boundaries, says the session changed her life. “I had been raised to be nice, which is code for, ‘Don’t say no to the people you love,’” Abel says. “I learned how to respect my own boundaries. If I am feeling resentful, it is because I needed to say no and didn’t. How did I make it to my 60s not knowing this?”
Vinson also works with University of Richmond students as part of an Office of the Chaplaincy initiative that uses art and art creation to explore spirituality. “She brings such light, energy, skill and expertise into the room, and the students absolutely love working with her,” says Rev. Jamie Lynn Haskins, chaplain for spiritual life and communications director at UR. “For the past several years, [Vinson] has been an important part of our work, offering [students] a safe place to land, ground themselves, and develop skills for resilience and centering that will serve them throughout the rest of their lives.”
Thinking about her life since that day at camp when she decided to devote herself to caring for others, Vinson says she’s the one who has been blessed. “Whether I’m officiating a wedding, presiding a funeral, leading a bereavement group, offering reiki, leading a retreat or making my art, I am attuned to those I am with. Each of those moments is sacred, and it’s an absolute honor to be part of each of those stories,” she says.
Vinson says this is why she’s in ministry: “for the relational aspects and to help people find their wholeness and path to healing. We can see each other as we are and care for each other in a community of mutual support, transcend so many differences, and find what we hold in common.”
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