Artist Statement

I am a painter intrigued by the beauty of life. I try to capture the spirit of places, people, things, that give me a sense of peacefulness, the odd moments in time that have a certain solidity to them, a stateliness or grace that one might never see again. These views could be seen on a path near my house, a mountain, a lake, or they might be an image caught at the edge of a highway or of cars ahead on the road framed by the hills around them, of snow piled on the houses in my neighborhood or faces or things that together tell a story. Sometimes I change the picture into an abstract to inspect its structure. 

We are all travelers in time. The seasons of the year, the time of day or the weather can change a landscape. The icy fragments of a melting pond create a texture one day and on the next might hold a reflection of all the colors in the rainbow. It will never happen again in the same way but is worth remembering.

Bio

Susan has been enjoying learning about art and/or making art for most of her life. The picture on the wall in her youngest childhood bedroom that she thought was the real Goldilocks, was actually a copy of a Picasso from his Blue Period aptly named “Greedy”. There were always visits to museums and when her mother returned to teaching there were endless art projects to complete and books to look through, drawing, painting, pottery, lost wax jewelry making, origami, and copper tooling. There was never enough time to take it all in or to perfect a skill but she learned something about the pluses and minuses of each media and a better appreciation of the work entailed in making art. Later she worked for an art historian who needed help organizing research material. That job led her to more museum going and art history reading and to a year working in museum environments. Eventually she realized she loved studying art but would rather paint. Since then she has studied under Glen Kessler, Jack Perlmutter, Patricia Friend, Wendelin Daniels, and Katherine Knight along with taking workshops from Roger Brinker, Steven Assael and Cindy Procious.

Her work has been shown in exhibitions in several states, Maryland, Virginia, and New York among them, and is also in a number of private collections.

Susan, like many artists, especially loves color, the ways in which colors impact each other, the remarkable ways they interact. She grew up on the West Coast in the San Francisco area where the light (then) was bright and crystal clear. Colors shone, except in the sea fog that wrapped the mornings. As the day matured the fog evaporated, the colors reappeared. In the evening the sun descended the hills and swam across the salt flats on the San Francisco Bay and then lifted the colors into the setting sun. The salt flats were like paint boxes when seen from the hillsides.

Susan thinks it is a challenge to learn how to use the colors, to find out how they work together, how to make them sing and how to use them to enhance the story. It is a never ending challenge because as soon as you think you know something about color and art, as soon as you think you've mastered a skill there's always that moment when you realize you've learned something and nothing. At that point it is time to laugh at oneself and go back to square one and unlearn in order to learn some more.

Resume

  • Education

    • Barnstone Studios Drawing and Design Intensive, June - August, 2024

    • Still Life class taught by Cindy Procious, at The Compass Art Center, 2024

    • Portrait class taught by Steven Assael at the Compass Atelier, 2024

    • The Compass Atelier, Master Artist Program, graduated 2023

    • Montgomery Community College

    • Rockville Arts Place

  • Awards

    • Honorable Mention, Kensington Category, Montgomery Art Association (MAA) Paint the Town Labor Day Show, 2022

    • 2nd Place, Pastels, Womens Club of Chevy Chase Annual Art Show, 2021

    • 3rd Place, Miniatures, Womens Club of Chevy Chase Annual Art Show, 2020

  • Gallery Solo/Small Group Shows

    • 2023 Art in the City with Deb Pollack at Signal Financial Federal Credit Union, Washington, DC

    • 2023 Solo Show, The beachKraft Gallery, Olney, MD

    • 2020 Solo Show: “Gratitude Practice: Praise Making”, Lyceum Gallery, Sandy Spring, MD

  • Exhibitions

    • 2024 OAA 50th Anniversary Juried Exhibition at Sandy Spring Museum, Sandy Spring, MD

    • 2024 MAA Kensington Paint the Town Annual Show, Kensington, MD

    • 2023 MAA Kensington Paint the Town Annual Show, Kensington, MD

    • 2023 Laurel Art Guild Show, Montpelier Arts Center, Laurel, MD

    • 2023 Hollingsworth Gallery, Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel, MD

    • 2023 MAP Thesis Show, Strathmore Mansion, Bethesda, MD

    • 2023 MAA Winter Show, OASIS Art Gallery, Rockville, MD

    • 2022 MAA show, “Celebrating Color and Light”, Bender Jewish Community Center Goldman Gallery

    • 2022 Compass Atelier MAP class group show, Lyceum Gallery, Sandy Spring, MD

    • 2021 Montgomery Art Association (MAA) Kensington Paint the Town Labor Day Show

    • 2021 Womens Club of Chevy Chase virtual art show, received award

    • 2020 MAA juried virtual exhibition, “Urban Landscapes”

    • 2020 MAA juried show “Colorful Explorations”, Glenview Mansion, Rockville, MD

    • 2020 Solo Show: “Gratitude Practice: Praise Making”, Lyceum Gallery, Sandy Spring, MD

    • 2019 Montgomery Art Association (MAA) Kensington Paint the Town Labor Day Show

    • 2019 Sixth Annual South Atlantic Juried Exhibition at Montpelier Center for Arts and Education, Montpelier, VA

    • 2019 Womans Club of Chevy Chase Annual Art Show, received award

    • 2018 Montgomery Art Association (MAA) Kensington Paint the Town Labor Day Show

    • 2017 Art Sparks group show, “Holiday Market” at The Artist Angle Gallery, Frederick, MD

    • 2016 Artomatic Frederick

  • Organizations

    • Montgomery Art Association

    • Olney Art Association

    • Rockville Art League

    • Women’s Caucus for Art