SUSAN KIEFER painter and printmaker, has a BFA and MFA are from the California College of the Arts in Oakland and San Francisco. She has exhibited on the East and West coasts and has work in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. "Beauty has always been the driving force of my art and to challenge and expand my conception of what is beautiful, and to incorporate that into my work." She is known for her expressive geometric abstracts and figurative work. According to John Hastings, "When she paints, Susan Kiefer mines the language of poetic myth. It awakens the goddess in all of us!" Her painting, "Bird of Paradise" is the cover art of Blue City Poets and inspired the theme and title. It was the featured painting for the 2018 Charlie Parker Jazz Festival. The painting is an homage to Charlie Parker, whose nickname was "Bird.

" One of his compositions was titled "Bird of Paradise." The boat is borrowed from Egyptian tomb paintings. "I imagine Charlie in bird form, playing and drifting along on a heavenly sea.".