In the midst of Sundance 2012, Susan is delighted to report that the Impact Partners film and Sundance 2011 award winner Hell and Back Again has been nominated for the 2012 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Embedded in Afghanistan, photojournalist and filmmaker Danfung Dennis reveals the devastating impact a Taliban machine-gun bullet has on the life of a 25-year-old US Marine Sergeant. The film seamlessly transitions from stunning war reportage to an intimate, visceral portrait of one man’s personal struggle at home in North Carolina, where he confronts the physical and emotional difficulties of re-adjusting to civilian life. Contrasting the intensity of the frontline with the unsettling normalcy of home, the film lays bare the true cost of war.

Susan is proud to part of this extraordinary group of filmmakers and supporters with impact.

Returning to Palm Beach after a stellar 2011, gallery director Michael James invites all Susan Swartz fans to step into her special world of color and light as he presents a new collection of her paintings at Art Palm Beach this week:

Preview, January 19 7:30 pm to 10 pm

Day Sail

January 20 – 22 12:00 pm to 7 pm

January 23 12:00 pm to 6 pm

Palm Beach County Convention Center

650 Okeehobee Boulevard

West Palm Beach, FL 33401

Complimentary tickets will be available at ‘will call’ under Michael James Fine Art.

Susan and her husband, Jim, are co-founders of Impact Partners, a philanthropic venture organization that supports independent films that address pressing social issues. Over the years, films they have supported have gone onto screen at major festivals all over the planet and to win significant accolades, including Academy Awards.

Now, Impact Partners is thrilled to announce that three of its newest films will premiere this month at the Sundance Film Festival in Susan’s hometown of Park City, Utah. One of the films, called The Queen of Versailles, is being further honored as the opening night film that sets the tone for the entire festival. Directed by Lauren Greenfield, the documentary follows a couple building the biggest house in America—a 90,000 sf. palace inspired by Versailles—when their timeshare empire falters due to the economic crisis. Their rags-to-riches-to-rags story reveals the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream.

Also showing for the first time at Sundance is David France’s documentary, How to Survive a Plague. This is the untold story of the intensive efforts that turned AIDS into a manageable condition, and the improbable group of (mostly HIV-positive) young men and women whose resilience broke through a time of rampant death and political indifference.

Veteran Sundancers, co-directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady return this year with Detropia (formerly titled Detroit Hustles Harder). Their latest documentary explores the idea that the woes of Detroit are emblematic of the collapse of the U.S. manufacturing base. This is the dramatic story of a city and its people who refuse to leave the building, even as the flames are rising.

Now in its 34^th year, the Sundance Film Festival has evolved to become what is arguably the most meaningful celebration of independent cinema on the planet. “I feel incredibly blessed to have this wellspring of insight, creativity and important conversation in my own backyard,” says Susan. “Jim and I are honored to have supported these three tremendous films and look forward to the world’s response to them.”

Susan has been working proactively on her health with Dr. Mark Hyman, a renowned physician and educator, who practices Functional Medicine, a whole-systems approach to health. In addition to Dr. Hyman’s earlier book, UltraPrevention,  also a New York Times bestseller, Susan recommends The UltraMind™ Solution.

Dr. Hyman is part of a movement on the cutting edge of an entire shift in our scientific model of disease. This movement is called systems medicine or functional medicine. Explains Susan, “Dr. Hyman advocates a way of understanding the root causes of our illness and how our lifestyle and environment interact with our genes to create the imbalances or balances that are the real determinants of disease or health.”

She is looking forward to Dr. Hyman’s latest release The Blood Sugar Solution (available to the public in February 2012.)

To learn more about Functional Medicine and Dr. Hyman’s work, visit his website.

Talk about excess baggage charges—Susan and lots of her recent paintings traveled to New York City this week for a very special event. A collection of  Susan’s available paintings opens today at The Carlyle Hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Exhibited alongside estate silver specialist, The Silver Fund, and luxury jeweler, YVEL, Susan’s work includes several pieces from her recent solo exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, as well as a selection of brand new paintings.

Avenue, Manhattan’s oldest society magazine, promoted the three-day event in its November 2011 issue, calling the triple-threat exhibition a “Trove of Treasures.” Says the publication, “New Yorkers are on the prowl for unique, exquisite and memorable pieces to gift…[now] holiday shoppers will have the chance to feast their eyes on the remarkable collections [offered by this trio.]”

In New York this weekend? Stop by The Carlyle from 10am-8pm today or tomorrow,  Saturday, December 10^th or Sunday, December 11^th from 10am-4pm.

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Susan has been painting furiously in preparation for her December 8-11 exhibition at The Carlyle Hotel in New York City, as well as the ArtPalm Beach show in early 2012. At the same time Susan’s creating her well-known landscapes, she’s been quietly working away on a separate body of work.

Even more abstract than the abstract expressionist work Susan is best known for, these smaller paintings comprise a new Untitled Series. Explains Susan:

I use lots of glazes and many of layers of paint in my work, so there are many times when I am waiting for something to dry. I can’t just sit and wait—my hands need to keep moving—and often I have a visual idea or thought that may not be right for the piece I am in the midst of. So, I experiment on a separate canvas in a smaller scale—with color combinations, techniques, a feeling. Often the work is just a study, but sometimes I love the result. Recently, I’ve loved several of these truly abstract works, and they’ve grown into my Untitled Series.

Visit Susan’s updated Gallery.

Two films supported by Susan and Jim Swartz and the Impact Partners film fund have leapt beyond the festival circuit and into public audience this season.

Miss Representation, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, had its broadcast debut in October on OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network. Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the film explores how the media’s misrepresentations of women have led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence. To learn more about the film’s concurrent education and engagement efforts, visit www.missrepresentation.org.

Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology also premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and had began its global theatrical run in September. Directed by veteran documentary-maker and social media icon, Tiffany Shlain, Connected is an exhilarating rollercoaster ride that explores what it means to be connected in the 21^st century. For more information, visit www.connected.moxieinstitutedev.com.

On December 1, both Shlain and Newsom are speaking at the TEDxWomen conference, a bicoastal conversation broadcast across the planet about how women and girls are re-shaping the future. Watch live or join the conversation at www.tedxwomen.org.

Susan is stunned and grateful to have been lauded so thoroughly by friends and supporters at a celebration on October 15 in the extraordinary Zions Bank Founders Room in downtown Salt Lake City.

In a room packed with admirers, peers and friends, Susan was honored as national treasure who sheds a flattering light on the state of Utah. Hosts Scott Anderson (president and CEO, Zions Bank), Geralyn Dreyfous (founder and chair, Utah Film Center and Impact Partners) and Byron Russell (Byron Russell LLC) celebrated not only Susan’s artistic talents, but also her life-changing generosity and her gift of deep and abiding friendship.

A Zions Bank-commissioned painting and other private collection works by Susan were on display to enhance the special video screening of the opening reception of her recently-concluded National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) exhibition, Seasons of the Soul.

Remarks Susan about the evening:

With the preparation and opening of any exhibition of paintings, there is so much work, anticipation and excitement for the artist. One continues to bask in the glow throughout its life in the gallery. What one is less prepared for are those wistful and bittersweet feelings at its quiet closure—a very private end to a public experience. For me, this celebration brought an unexpectedly joyful conclusion to my NMWA exhibition. To celebrate with good friends and so many new friends was a glorious benediction.

With the conclusion of her Seasons of the Soul exhibition and the accompanying film series Linking Environment, Healing and Creativity in Washington, DC, Susan is glad to be home in the mountains of Utah. And she’s not the only one. Susan’s longtime patron and friend, Scott Anderson, is hosting a reception to welcome her home and to celebrate her recent successes.

On Saturday, October 15, along with co-hosts Geralyn Dreyfous and Byron Russell, Anderson—who is the president and CEO of Zions Bank—will open the prestigious Founders Room of the Salt Lake City’s Zions Bank Building to fete Susan and her supporters. “Scott, Geralyn and Byron have stood by me during tough times and have always encouraged me to really go for it. I feel so incredibly grateful to count them as friends,” professes Susan.

“Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.” –Albert Camus

The Seasons of the Soul exhibition has finally wrapped up at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. While Susan’s paintings coming down from the museum walls, the leaves are coming down from the aspens and Gambel oak trees surrounding Susan’s studio in Park City.

After a busy summer of painting on the coast, Susan is now back in the mountains, preparing for an upcoming solo exhibition in New York City. Scheduled for December 8-11, the exhibition of paintings will hang at The Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Gallery director, Michael James, is organizing the special exhibition at The Carlyle. “I’ve known Susan Swartz for a decade and seen her work evolve as she was challenged by illness,” he remarked. “Today her paintings are gaining new acclaim as they display a truly dynamic energy and tension that underlies her more complex relationship with the natural environment.”

For more information about the New York City exhibition, visit http://michaeljamesfineart.com/.