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[Reprinted with permission from Utah
Homes & Garden magazine, Autumn/Winter 2003 issue.]
Tucked in Deer Valley's tree-covered slopes,
artist Susan Swartz lives amidst the nature that inspires her. In the
living room of her modern mountain home, the natural world is welcomed
in through large windows. The room is further enhanced by one of her
paintings,
Aspens, the first in a series of images of strong vertical trunks
standing white and iridescent against a ground of warm yellow grasses.
The architecture allows nature to inhabit her space, but Swartz says
that it's the painting that brings her a sense of being within the landscape.
She cannot seem to get enough of nature, both in her home and on canvas,
which is not surprising when she explains that her ultimate inspiration
is her spiritual connection to the natural world.
A
transplant to Utah, Swartz grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the
oldest of three girls in a loving family. Although born into a family
line thick with artistic and musical talent, Swartz did not consider
an education in art until her senior year in high school when her work
gained the sincere admiration of one teacher. With the visual aid of
one of her paintings (a simple still life that hangs in Swartz's studio
today) he pulled her parents aside to tell them that he believed his
student had exceptional ability. Swartz then decided to make art study
her focus and found her niche in the intimate art department of Edinboro
University of Pennsylvania.
 She
later went on to teach art as the head of a high school art department
in Princeton, New Jersey. Now, years later, Swartz still receives an
occasional letter from one of her students. "Once a teacher always
a teacher,"
she states with a shy smile.
Swartz worked for years
with realism, studying form, line, shadow and texture before expanding
her technique, wanting to prove to herself that she could follow
the rules before she broke them. "I
think I needed to know I could paint like a photograph first and now
where I'm going is the interpretation of all that," she says. "I
never want to stay in the same stage. I want to keep changing, so
I want to keep challenging myself to paint new things."
 In
time Swartz's work evolved into impressionistic landscapes, with light,
color and movement taking precedence over her ties to realism. Most
would say this is where she found her artistic voice, but Swartz insists
she is still evolving. The fresher canvases in her studio are alive with
abstract textures and shimmering colors, giving you a sense of
looking up at glimmering leaves moving in the wind.
Swartz
believes that life has given her much to draw upon for her art, and
that as she grows and faces challenges, her art will only become richer
and more soulful. For years, her work came second to raising her children,
in order to provide them with what she saw as the best possible childhood,
and now she cherishes the times they had and the depth it gave her
work. In her artist's statement she writes that
"seeing the world through their eyes" helped her to "wonder
out loud...how I would paint a sunset or do justice to freshly fallen
snow?"
 Once
her children left for college, picking up the brush seriously again
seemed a little daunting, but Swartz found an unexpected wave of success.
Just last year Swartz represented Utah as the Environmental Artist for
the 2002 Winter Olympics, and ended up donating $150,000 to the event
by auctioning off one of her Olympic works. She also created a partnership
with the Phoenix Gallery in Park City, which represents her exclusively
and helped place her work in a number of respected permanent collections
throughout the country. Swartz remains humble and grateful for her
career, delighted that in some way she can contribute to her community.
 She's
the kind of artist who leaves her studio light on because she finds
inspiration all around, and it can take hold of her at any moment. When
she sees something that moves her, she feels driven to bring it to the
surface of a canvas.
"I need to paint," she says with determination. "Even
if people didn't buy my work, I would still be painting." With
all of her paintings signed "Glory to God," Swartz credits
her creator with inspiring her continually, saying she can never run
out of ideas when "no two sunsets are the some, no two waterfalls
and no two cloudy days." All it takes to be renewed in her desire
to work is to step out of the front door.
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