Personal Visions: Susan Swartz
Susan Swartz, who has lived in Utah for the past 20 years, has emerged as perhaps the leading nature and environmental artist in the state. Combining her talent with a paintbrush with her love of the outdoors, she is creating an artistic tableau that brings to life the majestic and yet intimate beauty of the mountains that surround her home in Park City.
Selected by Fine Art Limited to create works commemorating the mountainous terrain around Mt. Timpanogos, site of major events of the upcoming 2002 Winter Olympics, Swartz has sketched and photographed the high mountain landscape and transformed the majestic high country into a series of rich new images.
The two prime images, which will be released as special limited editions commemorating the Olympic sites, are "Soldiers Hollow" and "Cascade Springs."
"Soldiers Hollow" depicts a stand of black willows near the area where the cross-country skiing competition will be held during the Olympics. This striking mountain valley stretches out beneath the suggest summit of Mt. Timpanogos, which rises in the distance in Swartz’s painting.
"Cascade Springs" captures the beauty of the aspen groves on the backside of the mountain, not far from Robert Redford’s Sundance Ski Resort and the site of the annual Sundance Film Festival.
"This are has a special appeal to me," says Swartz. "The contrast between the grove of aspens and the rocky peaks beyond symbolize to me two sides of the beauty of the natural world. That’s especially true here in Utah, where the intimate textures of the aspens blend so perfectly with the dramatic vistas of the mountains. I find a spiritual dimension in both aspects of nature, but together they possess the ability to transcend the physical world and take me as an artist to a higher plane."
Represented by The Gallery At Park City, Swartz’s acrylic originals and canvas and paper giclee prints have captured the hearts of enthusiastic followers in Utah and beyond.
As one out-of-state collector put it, "Every time I look at Susan’s paintings, I am reminded of the real reason I travel to Utah. No other painter I’ve found paints the natural beauty of Utah’s mountains like she does. Her works aren’t photo-like renditions of the state. They’re better; they capture the feeling of nature’s beauty. When I look at her paintings, I feel just like I do when I’m there."
Jack Sharr, president of Fine Art Limited, official Olympic art licensee, says, "Every Olympic Games has to have a cultural as well as an athletic side. The Cultural Olympiad brings music, dance, and visual arts to the games. Because of the additional ski runs that are needed, a lot of trees must be removed. The Olympic Committee wants to make a contribution back to the area by planting thousands of trees through the Environmental Olympics.
"Susan is a Park City resident known for her paintings of trees, so I chose her to do images that present the trees that will be put back at Soldiers Hollow. She’s also famous for painting aspens, so we had her do a painting of those, too. Both posters will be printed with Olympic Committee and Environmental Olympic marks.
"Susan’s images are excellent," Sharr adds. "She did a wonderful job on special commemorative pieces that present two famous landmark settings that tie areas where the Olympics will take place with the environment."
Originally published in the August/September 2001 edition of Art Trends magazine.