"... Susan Lynn's eloquent Sun Kissed Hill is a great example of the potential of watercolor." "... just plain beautiful."
- Ann Shafer, Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, The Baltimore Museum of Art
Painting primarily with transparent watercolor, my current body of work depicts the landscape of the American West and the Midwestern prairie. Drawing subject matter from my own photographs and on-site sketches, my compositions are an interpretation of the landscape, rather than a strict depiction. As in much of rural America, a human presence is felt in my paintings through the subtle intrusion of the occasional fencepost, haybales, or the pattern-making of plowed fields and planted crops. The work often enters a realm of heightened, abstracted colors, and the unique qualities of transparent watercolor lend the paintings a sense of luminosity that I believe cannot be duplicated with any other media. Forgoing the more common watercolor technique of glazing layers of transparent color to build value and chroma, I prefer instead to apply the paint with intense, saturated color, often allowing areas of color to bleed into one another to create color and textural transitions that echo those found in nature. I work toward finding a balance in each painting between those spontaneous, fluid bleeds and the sharper edges that more clearly define the subject. Exploring the impact of color and its ability to establish an emotional resonance with the viewer is an aspect of painting that continues to fascinate and excite me.
Missouri Watercolor Society, Signature Member, www.mowsart.com
Kansas Watercolor Society, Signature Member, www.kansaswatercolor.com
American Plains Artists, member, www.americanplainsartists.com
Women Artists of the West, associate member, www.waow.com
American Women Artists, associate member, www.americanwomenartists.org
Resume:
Education:
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Kansas State University, 1985
Solo Exhibitions:
Cloister Gallery, Grace Episcopal Cathedral, Topeka, KS, February, 2008
National Agricultural Hall of Fame, May, 2005
Roeland Park City Hall, January, 2005
The New American Gallery, www.newamgallery.com, July, 2004
WRS Architects Gallery, Kansas City, MO, September, 2001
Unitarian Church, Kansas City, MO, March 1996
Thornhill Gallery, Avila College, Kansas City, MO, November, 1995
Two-person and Group Exhibits:
Strecker-Nelson Gallery, Manhattan, KS, November, 2011
The Benson Gallery, Kansas City, MO, October, 2011
GOT ART Gallery on Third, Lee's Summit, MO, 2011
The Rice Gallery, Overland Park, KS, October, 2006
Phoenix Gallery, Topeka, KS, September, 2006
Red Raven Gallery, Big Sky, MT, August, 2005
Red Raven Gallery, Big Sky, MT, February, 2005
Phoenix Gallery, Topeka, KS, November, 2004
The Rice Gallery, Overland Park, KS, July, 2004
The Rice Gallery, Overland Park, KS, November, 2003
Phoenix Gallery, Topeka, KS, March 2002
Phoenix Gallery, Topeka, KS, September, 1999
Phoenix Gallery, Topeka, KS, April, 1998
Roeland Park City Hall, Roeland Park, KS, February, 1996
Juried Exhibitions:
2011
American Plains Artists 27th Annual Juried Exhibit, New Mexica Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, Las Cruces, NM
Stems Plein Air Paint 2011, Rice Gallery, Overland Park, KS
2010
Allied Artists of America National Juried Exhibit, National Arts Club Gallery, New York, NY
American Women Artists National Juried Competition, Southwest Gallery, Dallas, TX
American Landscapes National Juried Exhibition, Maryland Federation of Art MFA Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD
Watercolor Missouri National, Missouri Watercolor Society, Winston Churchill Memorial, Anson Cutts Gallery, Fulton, MO
2009
Flint Hills: Preserving the Tallgrass Prairie Exhibit and Sale, Buttonwood Art Space, Kansas City, MO
2007
5th Annual Color: Bold/Subtle International Online Juried Exhibition, upstreampeoplegallery.com
Small Wonders National Juried Exhibition, Maryland Federation of Art Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD
2006
Western Colorado Watercolor Society 14th Annual National Exhibit
Art at the Center Juried Exhibition
Missouri Watercolor Society 6th Annual Open Exhibition
Juried Art Exhibition of Kansas and Missouri Women Artists
2004
The NewAm Open, National Juried Exhibition
2003
Kansas Watercolor Society 8 State Exhibition
Kansas City Artisits Coalition Regional Exhibition
2002
Art at the Center Juried Exhibition
Point Gallery Painting II International Juried Exhibition
2001
Kansas Watercolor Society 7 State Exhibition
Realism 2001 XIII Annual National Competition
1999
Art in the Woods x99 Juried Exhibition
1996
46th Spiva Annual 9 State Regional Exhibition
Art in the Woods '96 Juried Exhibition
Kansas Watercolor Society 7 State Exhibition
1995
Midwest Watercolor Society 18th Annual National Exhibition
1994
Art in the Woods x94 Juried Exhibition
1992
Kansas Watercolor Society 5 State Exhibition
Aesthetics x92 Juried National Art Exhibition
2nd Annual Kansas City Competitive Art Exhibition
Juried Art Fairs:
Port Clinton Art Fair, Highland Park, IL, 2011
Crested Butte Art Festival, Crested Butte, CO, 2011
Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts, Oklahoma City, OK, 2011
Tulsa Mayfest, Tulsa, OK, 2011
Des Moines Art Fair, Des Moines, IA, 2009
Uptown Art Fair, Minneapolis, MN, 2008
Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO, 2006
Art Fair on the Square, Madison, WI, 1996, x97, '03, '04, '05, '07, '08, '09, '10, '11
Power & Light District Art Fair, Kansas City, MO, 2008
Peoria Art Guild Fine Art Fair, Peoria, IL, 2007, '08, '09, '11
Historic Shaw Art Fair, St. Louis, MO, 2009
Laumeier Art Fair, St. Louis, MO, 2006, '07
Salina Arts Festival, Salina, KS, 2007, '10, '11
Art on the Square, Belleville, IL, 2006
Omaha Summer Arts Festival, Omaha, NE, 2003, '04, '05, '06
Westport Art Fair, Kansas City, MO, 1994, '95, '96, '97, '98, '04, '05, '06, '10, '11
Naperville Arts Festival, Naperville, IL, 2004
Brookside Art Fair, Kansas City, MO, 1994, '95, '96, '97, '02, '03
Artsplash, Sioux City, IA, 1997, '03
Mountain Artists' Rendezvous, Jackson, WY, 2002
Town Art Show, Leawood, KS, 2002
Plaza Art Fair, Kansas City, MO, 1997
Prairie Village Art Fair, Prairie Village, KS, 1993, '95, '96, '97, '04, '06, '08, '10, '11
Hidden Glen Arts Festival, Olathe, KS, 1993, '94, '97
River Valley Arts Festival, Topeka, KS, 1996
Midwest Salute to the Arts, Fairview Heights, IL, 1995, 2010
Longview Art & Word Music Festival, Lee's Summit, MO, 2010
Awards:
2011 Southwest Art Publisher's Award of Excellence, American Plains Artists 27th Annual Juried Exhibit
2011 Merit & Purchase Awards, Salina Arts Festival
2010 Winston Churchill Painting Award, Watercolor Missouri National
2010 Award of Merit, American Landscapes National Juried Exhibition
2010 Best of Category, Watercolor, Midwest Salute to the Arts
2010 Award of Excellence, Longview Art & World Music Festival
2007 Invitational Award, Art Fair on the Square
2006 Award of Merit, Laumeier Art Fair
2003 Purchase Award, Kansas Watercolor Society 8 State Exhibition
1996 Purchase Award, Hidden Glen Arts Festival
1997 Purchase Awards (2), Prairie Village Art Fair
1995 Purchase Award, Midwest Salute to the Masters
1994 Featured Artist, Hidden Glen Arts Festival
Purchase Award, Hidden Glen Arts Festival
1993 Best 2-Dimensional, Hidden Glen Arts Festival
Juried Publications:
American Art Collector, 2009 Edition, Alcove Books
American Art Collector, Volume 3, Book 4, 2007, Alcove Books
American Art Collector, Volume 2, Book 2- Central States, 2006, Alcove Books
American Art Collector, Volume 1, Book 2- Central States, 2004, Alcove Books
Coporate Collections:
Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri
Sprint, Overland Park, Kansas
John Deere, Moline, Illinois