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SUSAN M. PARKINSON

AWA, OPA, UWS

 

 

Susan Parkinson delights in bringing the outdoors indoors.  Her hope is to dramatize the ordinary in nature—things that you might pass by unnoticed
when walking or driving—bringing these simple but intimate images into your living spaces to make your walls come to life.  She knows that paintings set
a mood in a room; and they touch us even when we’re not totally aware of
them or their extraordinary significance in our lives.  

 

She is more interested in being a poet-philosopher than documenting place. 

”I want the painting to invoke a deeper experience with the natural phenomenon surrounding us every day—the intent is to capture insights which help us pause and think about the magic of this ongoing creation, why we are here, and how
we might value and preserve these natural systems and organic wonders.”  She especially enjoys expressing different moods, pushing light and shadow, feelings, and atmosphere as she celebrates skies and gives life to ordinary landscape milieu.   On the other hand, she also playfully creates abstract compositions using natural objects: capturing the rhythm of tree shapes, leafs and florals located in various places she has lived and traveled.   

 

“Growing up in the wide open spaces of Utah began this love affair with nature and sky.  Maybe it started with the hours spent as a young girl climbing and daydreaming in our front yard walnut tree.  We became pretty close friends,
that tree and I; it was one of many intimate connections with the outdoors which have always given me solace.  Raising a family, I spent another twenty years immersed in the countryside in Huntsville, Utah; and now I enjoy a home nestled against the mountain in Provo, Utah, surrounded by the fascinating natural shapes, colors and texture of even more trees, bushes, flowers and grasses.  These amazing creations, like people, have individual personalities; and glimpses of unique little scenarios continually catch my eye as I walk and drive; so to me, my paintings are more like portraits than landscapes.  Painting these glimpses
is a calming, spiritual experience for me; it is my way of celebrating our life
source, and I hope that it will bring the same joy to others.”  

 

Susan is an energetic artist and educator who enjoys working with oil paints, watercolor and multi-media.  The daughter of a successful western artist, Lee K. Parkinson, she has been exposed to art since her early childhood and has done professional gallery work as well as teaching for over twenty-five years at Utah Valley University. 

 

"Sometimes it is frustrating trying to perfect certain passages, reaching toward higher skill levels and intricacies in developing my personal style and deeper meanings in my work, but when I am able to spend a few hours a week painting,
I lose track of time, relax, and can handle most of the stress that arises naturally
in life.  I love art; I live art.  I have spent hours pouring over books and walking through galleries and museums observing masters like Corot, Bierstadt, Church, VanGogh, Monet, and modern realists like Clark Hulings, Robert Bateman and Wilson Hurley. Their landscapes are not only well-executed, they have a tendency to move one's emotions; that is the ultimate goal.  Whatever the results in my work, I can’t imagine my life without art or the slowly disappearing beauties of nature shrinking around us.  Thank heavens we can still plant trees and flowers around our homes (and on our walls)."

 

 

 

SCHOOLING:

Utah State University Master of Art Degree, Spring 1990

Brigham Young University Educational Leadership Doctorate 1993-2001ABD

 

WORK EXPERIENCE & HONORS:

1990-1993  Viewmont High School Art Teacher; Advanced Placement

         1993  Viewmont Outstanding Teacher of the Year

         1993  Davis School District Art Teacher of the Year; 

1993-1994  Timpview High School; Advanced Placement and Commercial Art

1995-2008  Reader and Presenter for National Advanced Placement Art Portfolios

             Presented at over 30 A.P. Teacher Workshops in Utah, California, Colorado and Arizona

1994-2018  Tenured Associate Professor, Utah Valley University 

2000   Excellence in Service Award, Utah Valley University 

2015   Outstanding Teacher of The Year, U.V.U. School of The Arts.

2015   Utah Artists.com Featured Artist for the month of April

           Associate member of Oil Painters of America and 

           American Women Artists Juried Association; Utah Watercolor Society

GALLERIES & REPRESENTATION         

            Robert Kelly Home, Park City, Utah

            Lund's Fine Art Gallery, Park City, Utah

            Red Plum Designs, Provo, Utah

            Verga's Gallery, LaGuna Beach, California

MOST RECENT ART SHOWS & AWARDS:

May 2016  Special Award  Woodbury Museum "Art of the Century"  

May 2016   Purchase Award   Zion's Bank Invitational group/solo Show

Feb  2016   AmBank group/solo Invitational Show

Dec  2015   Springvile Museum Religious Show

Jul   2015   Verga's Gallery, Laguna Beach, Calif.  One man show

Jun  2015  AmBank group/solo Invitational Show

May 2015   Zion's Bank Juried Group/Solo Show, Provo, Utah

Jan  2015   Presidential Board Room, Utah Valley University

Jan  2015   Holladay Juried Art Show

Dec  2014   Springville Museum Religious Show

Dec  2014   Eccles Art Center Miniature Show 

Nov  2014   Purchase  AmBank group/solo Invitational Show

Nov  2014   One-Man Show—Huntsville Snowberry Inn

Oct   2014   Woodbury Museum UVU Faculty Exhibition 

Aug  2014    Eccles Art Center 40th Annual Statewide Competition 

Jun  2014-15   Award: Utah Arts Council Traveling Show

May 2014   Utah Watercolor Society Spring Open Exhibition

May 2014   Zion’s Bank Juried Group/ Solo Show, Provo, Utah 

April  2014  Three Artist Show, Scerra Historical Gallery, Orem, Utah

April  2014  Oil Painters of America On Line Spring Competition

Mar  2014 Solo Show, Terra Nova Gallery, Provo, Utah

Mar  2014 Bountiful/Davis Art Center Annual Statewide Competition 

Feb  2014    Solo Show, Peteetneet Museum & Gallery, Payson, Utah

Feb  2014    Honorable Mention, Utah County Art Board Juried Show

Feb  2014    “Red” Invitational Show @ Terra Nova Gallery, Provo, Utah

Oct   2013   Woodbury Museum: UVU Faculty Exhibition

Sep  2013   AUW Utah Women Artist’s Exhibition, SLC, Utah

Jul    2013   Third Place, Professional, Steel Days in American Fork

         2013  Hermitage Art Gallery Summer Show, Paris, Idaho

    2013-14  Award: Utah Arts Council Traveling Show

         2013  Utah Watercolor Society Spring Open Exhibition

         2011  Dean’s Purchase Award, Woodbury Museum, UVU Faculty Show

         2011  Davis County Invitational Art Show

         2010  Honored Artist, North Ogden Cherry Days

 

 

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