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Artist Susan Swartz, who is particularly known for her impressionistic landscapes and nature scenes, presents her first major museum show at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Curated by Steve Wyatt, Natural Revelations: Paintings by Susan Swartz looks at a large scale of acrylic work on linen canvas that reflects upon nature and its lyrical beauty. Presented at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, January 11-April 13, 2008, Swartz’s exhibition will be in the Museum’s extraordinary Great Hall and will feature a number of new works that continue to showcase the artist's outstanding creativity and sense for form and color.

For more than 40 years, Susan Swartz has created a body of work that examines the diverse forms and rich metaphorical associations of nature. Natural Revelations will include approximately 20 of Swartz’s large-scale paintings and some smaller images, all especially created for this exhibition within the last two years.

The show is made up of various groupings—landscapes, trees, water scenes and water lilies, depicting Swartz’s variety in theme, from classic landscapes and a range of diverse plants and nature scenes to truly abstract inspirations on nature.

“Susan Swartz continually expands her visual vocabulary, finding new ways to express a passion for the sublime soul of nature.  Her work hearkens back to the yearnings of Abstract Expressionists, as she combines realism and abstraction in a magical blend that expresses emotion purely. The colors flicker and dance, simultaneously creating depth and drawing attention to the artist’s energetic application of paint,“ says David L. Dee, director of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Inspired by the natural world and the intersection between spirituality and art, Swartz has received various awards and gained wide recognition for artistic excellence. Trained in watercolors and oils, Swartz now expresses herself in acrylics on large linen canvasses. She has a particular love for landscapes and the natural world around her.

In December 2005 she was published in the Gibbs Smith collectors book Painters of the Wasatch Mountains. In 2004 she was honored at Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass., in recognition of her interaction of artistry with spirituality. She was commissioned to do commemorative artwork for the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games and was the recipient of “Mansion Artist of the Year” award by then-Gov. Michael Leavitt.

Honors and awards include The Garden State Watercolor Society Show, The National Audubon Society, Salmagundi Club of New York, and the Grand National Exhibition of the American Artist Professional League. Her biography appears in American Artists of Renown, and she was one of 15 artists invited to exhibit at “Le Salon des Nations” in Paris. Her paintings are included in the International Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame & Museum in Michigan. Her artwork is in private and corporate collections worldwide. Swartz is represented in Park City, Utah, by Phoenix Gallery; at the Elliott Yeary Gallery in Aspen, Colo.; and on Martha's Vineyard by the Carol Craven Gallery in Vineyard Haven, where she was featured in a solo exhibition in July 2007. Swartz is currently presented in a solo exhibition at the Elliott Yeary Gallery.

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is located on the University of Utah campus at 410 Campus Center Drive. The UMFA’s mission is to engage visitors in discovering meaningful connections with the artistic expressions of the world’s cultures. Admission is $5 adults, $3 seniors and youth ages 6-18, children 5 and under free, UMFA Members free. Museum hours are Tuesday–Friday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wednesdays 10 a.m.–8 p.m.; Weekends, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; closed Mondays.  For more information, call (801) 581-7332 or visit www.umfa.utah.edu.