Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Opening reception at Good Purpose Gallery

We had such a fun evening during the opening reception of the Holiday Glow Art Show at the Good Purpose Gallery in Lee, Massachusetts last Friday night. It's an honor to be included in this show and I'm grateful to the staff for such a successful evening. Here are a few photos from the event.
 
 
 
 
The show will run through January 12, 2016. I have 24 original paintings exhibited and as always, you may commission a painting for that special someone in your life if you prefer.  I've also included some smaller items like mini journals with original ACEO paintings, as well as art cards for holiday gift giving.

 

Happy Holidays!
xoxo, Susan

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Holiday Glow Art Show


Yesterday I dropped off 24 paintings and today the creative folks at the Good Purpose Gallery will be hanging the show and making the magic happen. It's a gorgeous space and I'm looking forward to the opening reception on Friday, November 27th. Live music, food and beverages will add to the festive atmosphere.

Oh, and by the way - that's my painting, Sky Through Birches, on the gallery's poster. It was quite a surprise to see that - how lovely!

Friday, October 23, 2015

Settling in and Good Purpose

I'm happy to report that my new live/work space in Albany (otherwise known as my home) is working out perfectly. Now that we're basically settled in, I'm preparing for a show at the Good Purpose Gallery in Lee, Massachusetts. I'm excited about this opportunity and love the mission of the Good Purpose Gallery, which works very closely with the College Internship Program (CIP). The motto of the CIP is:
 
 “You were made for good purpose and are inherently valuable”.

  and the mission of the Gallery is:
 
"The Gallery mission is to help integrate young individuals on Autism Spectrum and with other Learning Differences into community, enrich their lives through arts and creativity, and provide the opportunity for professional artists to share their skills and passion with exhibits, workshops and lectures."  ~ from the Good Purpose Gallery website. 

So as someone who loves art and how it impacts our communities for the better, I'm really thrilled to be involved in this exhibit. I'm readying somewhere between 20-30 works. A portion of the proceeds will directly benefit CIP Performing and Visual Arts development efforts.

 
I may be adding these two new river rock paintings I've just finished. I have a couple of mixed media pieces in the works, as well.

It's nice to be back in the saddle again....and for such a good purpose. 

 

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Catching Up

Yes, it's been a while dear Readers. 2015 has been a year of great changes already with more to follow. In April we listed our house in Pittsfield thinking we might get an offer by autumn but weren't in a particular hurry to move really.

However, thanks to our amazing realtor, we had multiple offers immediately and sold the house in four days. Oh.....but that meant we needed to find another home pronto. We had been looking for a while so had a pretty good idea of the housing market here in Albany, NY but finding a house quickly isn't easy or recommended. Two weeks later we put an offer on a house after looking at a bunch of them. We moved to a Marriott Residence Inn for a month in between houses which was interesting but I'd not want to do it much longer than that.

Now we are settling into our new home, a mid-century house in our ideal location with a large bright room that will make a wonderful art studio once the boxes are removed. Our house is a fixer-upper needing system upgrading, the things you'd expect in a house built in 1953 so I'm acting as general contractor and over-seeing all that kind of thing.


In the meantime at my current studio at NUarts, 311 North Street, Pittsfield - I am participating in open studios this Friday, August 7th during the First Fridays Artswalk from 5:00-8:00PM. First Fridays Artswalk is always a fun event and the weather is supposed to be perfect for a night out on the town.

I will be going back and forth between my studio and a group show of women artists in Gallery W at The Whitney Center for the Arts. I'm so happy to have been included in this group of talented local artists. There's an after party starting at 8:00PM at The Whitney, so do stop by for art, food, drink and great conversation.

Photo courtesy of the Whitney Center for the Arts

Friday, February 27, 2015

Winter's Gift

It has been a long winter in New England and beyond. The snow outside my door is still waist deep and the temperature far below freezing. I didn't succeed in embracing the great outdoors this winter even though my snow shoes were daring me to hit the trails. I have to say I much prefer temperatures above zero! The month of February is now coming to an end and I find myself thinking about the warmer days ahead, longer hours of sunlight and taking long walks on beautiful mountain paths.

What I did instead this winter, was spend time reading about art and planning my next series of paintings. There's a wonderful book I've just finished reading, The Mission of Art by Alex Grey. If you haven't read it, I hope you'll consider doing so. It has reaffirmed art-making as part of my spiritual practice. Sometimes I need the quiet space between projects which allows me to go a little deeper and listen more carefully to the messages within, knowing that when I emerge it will be with a stronger vision and voice. That was the gift of this winter.

 And really, spring can't be all that far off; can it?