SUSAN
J. BAILEY
Susan started drawing at a young age and continued to draw and work with
water colors through high school. Her mother taught Fine Arts and
exposed her daughter to great works of art from books and visits to art
museums. While pursuing a career in software engineering, Susan was
always drawn back to her interest in art. She attended life drawing
class in between science classes at the University of Pennsylvania.
After graduating she returned to Massachusetts where she set up a studio
at home.
In the late 90’s, Susan joined the Newburyport Art Association and
participated in juried shows.
In 2000 she began taking painting classes from a local painter
and teacher Enrico Donati. Next, she enrolled in an oil painting class
at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
In 2003 Susan began studying under Evelina Brozgul, an accomplished
painter, teacher, and art restorer. After
rigorous pencil drawing exercises, she progressed to still life oil
painting. That work inspired her to branch
out on her own, eventually producing a collection of still lifes
in her own style infused with bright colors
and patterned fabrics.
In 2010 Susan turned to a new genre: intensely colored abstract
landscapes based on horizontal stripes and other abstract shapes. And,
inspired by the mysteriousness of dark bars and the work of Edward
Hopper, she began a “Dark Bar” series, where
brightly colored lights just might expose secrets hiding in the shadows.
Soon after that she developed a new series, “Wild Fliers”, projecting
the color and motion of our beautiful fliers in nature such as the
hummingbird.
The years 2013-2014 brought some exciting events: Susan received
commissions for three landscape paintings for a large corporation;
Artist’s Magazine selected one of her landscapes for a finalist award;
and she was selected as the featured artist in an online cultural e-zine,
Split Lip. June 2014 brought her
first solo show at the Firehouse Gallery in Newburyport.
Dick Muccini |