December 9th, 2011
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 10th or Sunday, December 11th from 10am-4pm.
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December 6th, 2011
Untitled 012
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.
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December 2nd, 2011
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 21st 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.
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October 17th, 2011
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.
And see Presidential Candidate Jon Huntman’s special message to Susan on her website.
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October 13th, 2011
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.
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October 12th, 2011
“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/.
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September 14th, 2011
As Seasons of the Soul comes to a close in Washington, D.C., so too does the languid heat of summer. While Susan made several trips to the NMWA in D.C. to promote her current exhibition, she also spent a good portion of the summer months hard at work on the next project.
From her studio on Martha’s Vineyard, Susan worked on large-scale water scenes in preparation for next winter’s Art Palm Beach. “While I’m always a little sad to leave the ocean and to see summertime come to a close, I love returning to the Utah mountains when the leaves are turning gold and the damp scent of snow is in the air,” she says.
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September 9th, 2011
The current issue of the Harvard Divinity Bulletin features a long article by William A. Graham, Dean at HDS and respected Harvard professor and scholar. In “Reading the ‘Book of Nature’,” Graham uses the collection of paintings in Susan’s book, Natural Revelations, to explore the “venerable tradition of artists who find in nature their prime window on the divine.”
"Afterglow" 36 x 36
Coupled with reprints of Susan’s paintings, Graham’s prose takes readers from Plotinus, to the Qur’an, to Ralph Waldo Emerson, all the while noting the links between art, religion and nature. Writes Graham:
Swartz’ electrifying paintings focus in particular on the wonders and the magnificence [of nature]—an emphasis that echoes the oldest spiritual and aesthetic intuitions of our species. Her art radiates the conviction that nature reveals that which transcends our physical universe and our fragile experience as mortal beings in a perilous passage through a world vastly larger than ourselves or even our imagining.
This article was first published in Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Summer/Autumn 2011, Volume 39, Numbers 3 & 4. If you’d like read Graham’s complete article, please visit http://www.hds.harvard.edu/news-events/harvard-divinity-bulletin/articles/reading-the-book-of-nature.
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August 19th, 2011
Monthly throughout the exhibition of Susan’s Seasons of the Soul at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), the museum is presenting a documentary film series titled Linking Environment, Healing and Creativity. Already this summer, two important films have screened: The Science of Healing with Dr. Esther Sternberg and A Healthy Baby Girl.
And, still to come are two excellent recent documentaries. Screening on September 12 is The Last Mountain. Hailed as a clarion call to protect the environment and our own health, the film is directed by Bill Haney and focuses on a group of West Virginia citizens and their ongoing battle with Big Coal corporations.
Closing the film series on October 2 is No Impact Man, a film by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein that follows a Manhattan-resident during his yearlong effort to eliminate his impact on the environment. For 12 months he ate vegetarian; bought locally; stopped using elevators, television, cars, buses, and electricity; and brought his wife and two-year-old daughter along for the ride.
To learn more about the film series, click here: NMWA
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July 18th, 2011
Georgetowner Picks Up Susan’s StoryGeorgetowner, a bi-weekly newpaper based in the Georgetown district of Washington D.C. featured the opening reception of Susan’s exhibit Seasons of the Soul. Check it out here!
Washingtonian Magazine Features Seasons of the SoulSusan’s latest exhibit is drawing new attention daily! Considered the most influential monthly magazine in the D.C. metro area, Washingtonian also reported on Seasons of the Soul and highlighted Susan’s 2010 painting Fading Light in its July 2011 issue.
Mountain Express Magazine Profiles Susan’s Activism & Philanthropy
Here on the home front, a different aspect of Susan’s work—her environmental and social justice activism—were highlighted in a recent profile in the Summer 2011 issue of Park City, Utah-based Mountain Express. Pick up a free copy of the magazine at over 400 locations in the Park City and Heber Valley areas, or browse the digital version here: http://mountainexpressmagazine.com. (P.S. Look for Susan on page 72.)
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