Last week Susan joined Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, the Founder of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and Dr. Susan Fisher Sterling, the Alice West Director of the museum, in celebrating its 25^th Anniversary. At the gala event under the Patronage of Ambassador and Mrs. L’Hélias-Delattre of France, the museum honored Isabel Allende with the Award for Excellence in the Arts. The Chilean American writer’s works of fiction and memoirs pay homage to lives of women, and have sold over 56 million copies worldwide.

Gentle Morning 30 x 30

The NMWA is the only major museum in the world solely dedicated to recognizing women’s creative contributions. By bringing to light remarkable women artists of the past while also promoting the best of women artists working today, the museum directly addresses the gender imbalance in the

presentation of art in the U.S. and abroad, thus assuring great women artists a place of honor now and into the future. Susan is a member of the National Advisory Board.

Dr. Sterling was pleased to unveil Gentle Morning, Susan’s painting purchased by the museum following her solo exhibition susan swartz: seasons of the soul in 2011.

Although it is an early spring in most of the country this year, it is still winter in the mountains of Utah. Inspired by a late January trip to the English countryside, Susan has just completed a series of paintings entitled Winter Hush. It was a Saturday afternoon  and an unexpected snow storm covered the grounds of Knole in Kent. Leaving behind the history and 17th century magnificence of the Sackvilles, Susan entered the quiet, the peace…the hush…of the park. Here is the grandeur she seeks.

Susan is pleased to report that Endless Glow II is going to a new home and ARTFORWATER raised $1.2 million for Waterkeeper Alliance!!!  Congratulations to one and all!

Here’s a glimpse of the commitment to clean water and fun shared on March 5 at the auction.

Here’s an opportunity to own Endless Glow II, a Susan Swartz Original Acrylic on Linen painting, while supporting Waterkeeper Alliance, the world’s largest and fastest growing clean water advocacy group. Susan, a longtime proponent of eliminating toxins from our rivers and oceans, is proud to join this amazing group of artists and activists in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.

Hosted by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Jeff Koons, the  ARTFORWATER live auction will include a special performance by Deborah Harry on Monday, March 5, 2012 at 6:30 pm at the Matthew Marks Gallery, 522 West 22^nd Street, New York City.

Bidding has begun at the online auction and will close on Sunday, March 4 at noon.

Want to see Endless Glow II and bid in person? Contact Liz@livetreichard.com

Endless Glow II 20 x20

“…was a painting by Susan Swartz, Autumn Blaze II” says Kristie Aronow of Gulfshore Live in her review of Thursday night’s opening of the Naples International Art & Antique Fair.

“You feel the emotion, the heat, of the forest,” said another patron who also was taken with the painting, “you can feel the oncoming winter and the last hurrah of fall.”

Susan is humbled by another fantastic reception in Florida this season! Here’s Kristie’s complete article.

If you stroll into the the Naples International Art & Antique Fair this weekend, guess who’s painting will be the first to welcome you? Susan’s of course! Autumn Blaze II, a Swartz signature piece, graces the opening of the pavilion.  Gallery Director Michael James is proud to bring Susan’s work to the Florida Gulf Coast for a second year. As Yohana de la Torre, Chief Editor of The Gulf Coast Times wrote, Swartz’s “color constructions are mesmerizing. And the composition astounding.” Visit Susan’s website to read the entire article and please be our guests this weekend in Naples. Complimentary tickets at “will call” under Michael James Fine Art.

Autumn Blaze II 48 x 60

Naples International Art & Antique Fair

Friday to Sunday, February 24 to 26, 11 am to 7 pm

Monday and Tuesday, February 27 and 28, 11am to 5 pm

Naples International Pavilion, 4835 Immokalee Road, Naples, FL 34110

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.

Visit Susan’s website to view her new Film Production page.

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.