Born in Atlanta, GA, Suzanne Pugh began her metals and jewelry education in high school. She received a BFA from The University of Georgia, studying with Rob Jackson and Gary Noffke and went on to study with Elliot Pujol at Kansas State University, where she earned her MFA. After graduate school, Pugh lived and worked in New York, making custom fabricated pieces for designers such as Calvin Klein and Dansk. Ready to leave the city, she moved to North Carolina and worked as the metals studio coordinator at Penland School of Craft. During her almost seven years at Penland, she supported the work of hundreds of artists—from beginning metalsmiths to established international makers. 

From 2007–19, Pugh was associate professor and head of the Metal Arts Program at City College of San Francisco, teaching beginning to advanced fabrication and casting, as well as sculpture classes to hundreds of Bay Area residents. She regularly teaches a variety of workshops and has been a frequent guest instructor at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, California College of Art, UGA’s Cortona program, Revere Academy, Oregon College of Art and Craft and Penland School of Craft, among others. In her work, she is interested in material, metaphor and narrative, which she explores through surface patterning, line, drawing and form—all in pursuit of works that balance a light touch with serious subjects. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and is held in private collections.