Western Home Journal: Fine Art Booms in Park City
A year in the life of Park City’s Susan Swartz, celebrating achievements in art, film, and activism.
By Sabina Dana Plasse
For artist Susan Swartz, 2023 has been a year of accomplishments. As a Renaissance woman, Swartz’s visual understanding of art, film, and creativity for beauty, healing, education, and humanity has many outlets. She is a powerful voice and continues to be one for many people.
When Swartz began her career, she found that women with artistic ambitions were generally encouraged to teach rather than forge their own art careers. Swartz did teach to further her career, but she also honed her craft with an eye toward making her mark on the world in a professional capacity. Jason McCoy Gallery, the renowned New York art institution, took note. Fast-forward to February 2023, and the gallery, which began representing Swartz, hosted a widely acclaimed solo exhibit of her work. The opening drew luminaries from the art world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s director, Max Hollein, art philanthropist Agnes Gun, as well as other prominent individuals, including notable collectors and supporters.
Swartz’s early career was marked by a focus on realism. However, her trajectory took a transformative turn toward abstraction during her recovery from Lyme disease and mercury poisoning. Grounded in nature’s offerings as a healing mechanism, her Nature’s Bouquet series deftly illustrates the result of this struggle by incorporating Swartz’s theme of using natural elements such as floral arrangements which are demonstrated through tangible globs and drips of paint, giving dimension while building a strong sense of movement and depth. Her studio is based in picturesque Park City, and Swartz has always been drawn to mountain towns for their unparalleled beauty as a source of inspiration and she draws on this in her work.
“Every obstacle I’ve faced has been a pivotal force in shaping the artist I’ve become, molding my perspective, refining my techniques, and fundamentally infusing every aspect of my work.”
- Susan Swartz
“Susan Swartz has always been a working artist,” says Jason McCoy. “Her early work was figurative and displayed a mastery of technique and love of nature. Later in life, Susan turned from figuration to her interior self and has plumbed hte depths made famous first by so-called ;abstract expressionists.’”
McCoy adds, “Originally, Suan was an artist, a teacher, and a very capable capturer of nature. In those early days, she painted in a Wyeth-esque manner—very precise—rendering what she saw literally. Then, and Susan only knows herself exactly what happened, but she had an epiphany. I interpret it as internalizing her external vision. Her talent to paint what she saw literally transformed into an ability to paint what she felt emotionally. She allows us to see her experiences of the sky, the water, and the mountains. She takes organic material and enables us to see it in a way that we’ve never seen fruits and vegetables before and to experience their healing powers. There is a mystery in all of the pictures. Even the sea becomes ephemeral, intense, and deeply emotional.
“Susan has embraced the past while putting her own charming and fresh imprimatur of light and color in her ongoing body of work.”
- Walda Besthoff
“Healing is the North Star for Susan Swartz’s art,” remarks Susan Fisher Sterling, Director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Following a two-year renovation, the institution recently reopened, and Swartz’s piece Gentle Morning which was acquired by the museum in 2012 and loaned for exhibition to other institutions in Hungary, Germany, Russia, and the U.S., is now on display as part of its permanent collection.
Fisher Sterling adds, “Taking what nature has given, what humankind has wrought, she makes paintings that embody the earth itself and express her resilience, exuberance, and joy.:
Beyond art, Swartz is a visionary behind and a founding member of Impact Partners, an organization dedicated to finding independent documentary storytelling where she has played a pivotal role and channeled her creativity to produce several films that raise awareness about social and environmental issues. She served as executive producer of the Academy Award-winning film Icarus and Women Art Revolution—a film that explores the Feminist Art movement and which was selected by MOMA New York as one of the best documentaries in 2010. These documentary films enable Swartz to expand her social and political care, viewing our earth as a sanctuary to be healed and protected.
“I am profoundly interested in the alchemy between nature and art,” says Swartz. “Every obstacle I’ve faced has been a pivotal force in shaping the artist I’ve become, molding my perspective, refining my techniques, and fundamentally infusing every aspect of my work.”
Swartz was more recently an executive producer on Navalny, supporting her advocacy for social justice, health, and the environment and part of her ongoing vision to shed light on important issues and inspire change. The film investigates the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 95th Academy Awards in March. Swartz recognized the importance of the film’s director, Daniel Roher’s creative process and inspired him to publish a series of his drawings, paintings, doodles, and gum wrappers from 18 sketchbooks he created between September 2020 and June 2022 during the production of the film. She also encourages him to exhibit those drawings and sell copies of the film’s poster at Susan Swartz Studios during the 2023 Sundance Film Festival to raise additional money and awareness for Navalny’s plight.
As a passionate steward of the environment, Swartz was thrilled when her Evolution of Nature 24 painting garnered one of the highest bid counts of Sotheby’s Inaugural Impact Gala auction, alongside art luminaries and legends such as the event’s co-chairperson Annie Leibovitz, David Hockney, and Ai Weiwei, where 100% of proceeds were donated to Instituto Terra, an ambitious ecosystem reforestation project headed by infamous photographer Sebastiao Salgado. The piece was featured in the Sotheby’s “Contemporary Discoveries” exhibition in New York City from September 23 through October 3, 2023.
“I am profoundly interested in the alchemy that exists between nature and art.”
- Susan Swartz
Across the country, Swartz embarked on a pop-up series in New Orleans (NOLA) at Ten Nineteen gallery earlier this year in support of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Her parallel concerns for the environment, health, food, and education resonated with those in NOLA’s fine art community and others with Swartz’s work addressing the dichotomous power of nature to heal and destroy, based on the notion that the health of the earth is inextricably linked to human health.
The selected artwork included her Nature’s Bouquet and Evolution of Nature series pieces. The abstractionist works which feature organic elements and diverse colors utilize acrylic on linen, mixed media, and hand-painted vases to showcase the healing qualities of the natural landscape.
“Monet is the obvious nature artist who comes to mind, and we will remember his blockbuster show at NOMA (New Orleans Museum of Art) in the ‘90s. Susan’s work reflects his subtle influence. Going back to early American artists Thomas Cole and Martin Johnson Heade and coming forward to Jan Mitchell, Susan has embraced the past while putting her own charming and fresh imprimatur of light and color on her ongoing body of work,” says Walda Besthoff of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden.
“Taking what nature has given, what humankind has wrought, she makes paintings that embody the earth itself and express her resilience, exuberance, and joy.”
- Susan Fisher Sterling, Director, National Museum of Women in the Arts
Rhapsody Installation | Acrylic on linen | 96 x 252 in.
Swartz adds, “NOMA’s sculpture garden was an exceptional display of the bond between art and nature. It was my pleasure to support the garden which is open to all at no charge so that it can continue to inspire us all for years to come.”
Constantly seeking ways to amplify her impact, Susan concentrates on meaningful, authentic causes, especially when considering supporting projects for the health and the environment. She approaches life with a sense of resilience, hope, and a heart full of gratitude.
Ending the year on a hgih note and with a significant milestone and accomplishment in her illustrious career is Swartz’s debut at Art Miami in December 2023. Swartz will be exhibiting and celebrating her work, life, and resilience at the Jason McCoy Gallery booth alongside acclaimed German artist Christiane Löhr. A curated collection of Swartz’s largescale paintings and sculptures, including select works from her Nature’s Bouquet series, will be exhibited for serious art collectors and aficionados to absorb.
Sunflowers 7 | Acrylic on linen, mixed media | 24 x 24 in.