“Swartz is well versed in the culture of abstract art....Her work reflects the critical demands but she never lets any paradigm dominate her. Swartz approaches a paradigm, but then takes a step sideways. There she finds no trodden path; she happily takes risks to find her own way.”
“[Swartz’s] paintings are full of romanticisms, full of longing, love and always in search of the familiar turned unfamiliar, of the psyche of the person in nature, of a universal poetry which at once connects science, religion and painting.”
“So very often women artists have been exhibited as “becoming” instead of artists who have arrived. [The Evolution of Nature paintings] are documents of an authentic voice, an overnight success decades in the making. They are an achievement, an arrival, they are your voice and only your voice singing loud and clear.””
“Pulsating with dazzling color, Susan Swartz’s abstract landscapes simultaneously articulate her awe of the natural world and her rallying cry for its preservation. A staunch environmentalist, philanthropist, and supporter of award-winning documentaries, Susan has turned to her art as a source of healing, resilience, and inspiration throughout her battle with environmentally-bred illnesses.”
“Susan’s art is representative of a long-standing tradition in American Art, which is to depict the American Sublime. Indeed, the goal she shares with nineteenth-century artists Albert Bierstadt, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Thomas Moran and the contemporary artist, Clyde Aspevig, is the desire to contemplate and to represent the divine beauty of the landscape as God’s gift to humanity-that we may treasure its absolute and incomparable beauty.”
“Susan’s paintings will be among those of the great painters of the Wasatch, from [Albert] Bierstadt and [Thomas] Moran to peers working today… Our thesis is that the Wasatch painters form a similar cohesion around their subject as the Hudson River School.”
“On rare occasion, museums have the opportunity to show works of art that demonstrate a talented artist’s passion and vision, and that also relate, in a relevant and meaningful way, to important issues of our time. The art of Susan Swartz fits that description.”
“It is fortunate when an artist can connect the beauty that surrounds us with an environmental imperative and a spiritual influence. Susan Swartz is an artist who can provoke such passion.”
Public Figure Testimonials
“In the post-pandemic era, we all need healing. We also need to rediscover hope along with a new-found sense of joy and respect for the environment. Susan Swartz’s art embodies all this - in a literal sense. A survivor of long and debilitating Lyme disease (which echoes the struggles around long COVID), Susan has spent years learning how and why environmental change has created life-threatening illness - and reflecting that message in paintings that celebrate the beauty of our natural, unspoiled landscape.”
“Essence is the word that comes to mind with Susan Swartz’s paintings. Nature is not replicated, but associated with color, light and form. The textures created from her palette knife and brushstrokes are energetic pulse points reminding us that life is a shimmering process, mysterious and unpredictable.”
“Susan shows us how fragile nature is, how beautiful it is and how we need to take care of it. She shows us how it is important to be creative. Through her painting she makes the world a better place…she helps us to understand there are more things that unite us instead of separate us.”
“Susan shares my concern for the future of life on this planet. Each of her paintings richly illustrates the beauty of our world-from snow-covered slopes to rustic vineyards and country gardens...And Susan encourages us not only to experience and savor these images of nature, but also to do what we can to save nature itself.”
“Susan captures what is both sacred and divine in nature… in her work I find refuge and inspiration… But there is a story behind Natural Revelations… of Susan Swartz the activist, who after years of being sick decided it was no longer enough to paint for the glory of what God had created, but in defiance of what ‘no man shall’ — but has — ‘put asunder’.”
“Susan Swartz paints with light and teaches us to look for light. She helps us to see the beauty, the sacredness, the fragility, and the hope of renewal in the natural world and asks us in return to be in conversation with all that we hold to be true and dear. Stepping into her studio is like walking in a forest bathed in the warmth and comfort and colors of fall and the promise of spring.”
