Finding beauty in the journey
Susan E. Brooks
Lives and works in Louisville, KY
Instagram @sebrooks81
Facebook, Susan E. Brooks, Artist
BIO
Susan E. Brooks, M.Ed., has been a teaching artist since 1987. She moved to Mozambique, Africa, in 1996 with her family, where she taught art and English at an international school. After returning home and teaching art and English in Kentucky high schools for nearly ten years, she then traveled to Turkish Cyprus in 2009, where she taught English at Near East University. Susan returned again to Kentucky in 2011 where she currently enjoys painting, drawing, and showing her work at regional galleries. Susan was invited to join Peace Catalyst International as a visual peacemaker, using her art to promote unity among people of various religions and cultures.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am fascinated with all of nature, but especially the human countenance. I have lived in Africa, Europe, and the United States, and I love painting the beauty and dignity of various cultures. For me, working with oil pastels is the best of both worlds, combining painterly textures and colors with the expressive mark-making found in drawings. I also paint with oils en plein air. The colors and changing lights I experience in an outdoor setting are an endless source of inspiration for me that cannot be duplicated in a photograph. I paint en plein air with a palette knife. Using lots of paint and impasto textures, I create intensely colored oil landscapes that beg to be touched because of their fascinating 3D surface textures.
I hope what comes through in my painting is love of color and texture, both literally and as a metaphor for the abundance that we see in nature. I believe nature shows us that our mindset can be one of abundance and not scarcity. If we appreciate and care for the earth, she will provide abundantly for all of us. Working together, we could all have enough. My abundance doesn’t need to imply less for others. In nature, one sees lavish overabundance of wildflowers, for example. More than enough for all is the idea I hope is communicated through my art.
EDUCATION
2016 - Advanced Placement Institute in Studio Art, Savannah College of Art and Design
2007 - Master of Arts in Education, Indiana Wesleyan University, Louisville, KY
1985 - Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts, David Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN
AFFILIATIONS
2019 - Current - Visual Peacemaker with Peace Catalyst International
2017 - Current - Member of Louisville Visual Arts, Louisville, KY
GALLERY REPRESENTATION
2022 - Current - Chestnuts and Pearls Gallery, New Albany, IN
2019 - Current - Member artist at KORE Gallery, Louisville, KY
EXHIBITIONS
Oct. - Nov. 2022- Open Studio Louisville Juried Exhibition, Cressman Center for
Visual Art, Louisville, KY
Sept. 2022 - “Black and White” Juried Exhibition at KORE Gallery,
Louisville, KY.
Sept. 2022 - “Signs of the Times” exhibition, Chestnuts and Pearls Gallery, New Albany, IN
August 2022 - “Color and Texture, Joy and Grief” solo show, Chestnuts and Pearls Gallery, New Albany, IN
Jul. - Dec. 2022 - Team Kentucky Gallery Exhibition, State Capitol Building,
Frankfort, KY
May - June 2022 - “Fantastical” juried exhibition, Chestnuts and Pearls Gallery,
New Albany, IN
March 2022 - Plein Air Landscapes Exhibition, KORE Gallery, Louisville, KY
Jul. - Dec. 2021 - Team Kentucky Gallery Exhibition, State Capitol Building,
Frankfort, KY
Oct. - Nov. 2021- Open Studio Louisville Juried Exhibition, Cressman Center for
Visual Art, Louisville, KY
Oct. 23, 2021 - Open Studio Louisville, KORE Gallery, Louisville, KY
October 2, 2021 - “Full Circle,” Portland Art and Heritage Fair Juried
Exhibition, Portland Museum, Louisville, KY
September 2021 - “Black and White” Juried Exhibition at KORE Gallery,
Louisville, KY
April - Sept. 2021 - AC Hotel Juried Exhibition, AC Hotel, Louisville, KY
August 2021 - “Ever Changing,” Solo Exhibition, Jeffersonville Township Public Library, Jeffersonville, IN
June 2021 - “Louisville Artisans Guild Annual Members Show,” KORE Gallery, Louisville, KY
May 2021 - “Animal Attraction,” Juried Exhibition, Gallery 104, La Grange, KY
Mar. - Apr. 2021 - Beyond the Mask: Creation in Isolation exhibition, The Lyric
Theatre and Cultural Arts Center Website
March 2021 - “Journeys to Peace,” Solo Exhibition, KORE Gallery, Louisville, KY
Jan. - June 2021 - KRM “Art Makes Home” Installation, Family Health Center, Louisville, KY
Jan. - April 2021 - Black Lives Matter Juried Exhibition, Gloria Singletary Gallery,
Living Arts and Science Center, Lexington, KY
Oct. 2020 - Art in City Hall Juried Exhibition, City Hall, Louisville, KY
Sept. 2021
Fall 2020 - KRM “Art Makes Home” Installation, University of Louisville, Bridwell Art Library, Louisville, KY
October 2020 - “Birds of a Feather,” Portland Art and Heritage Fair Juried
Exhibition, Portland Museum, Louisville, KY
July 2020 - Artsy Shark’s online Early Summer Showcase
Dec. 2019 - Apr. “The Changing Seasons,” Plein air painting exhibition at Jane
2020 - Morgan Gallery, Louisville, KY
Aug. - Oct. 2019 - “Connecting Community Through Creativity” juried group show at
StudioWorks, Louisville, KY
September 2019 - “Black and White” Juried Group Show at KORE Gallery,
Louisville, KY
September 2019 - Portraiture Group Show at Tim Faulkner Gallery, Louisville, KY
Sept. 28, 2019 - 6th Annual Portland Art & Heritage Fair juried exhibition, "Life on the River” at the Portland Museum, Louisville, KY
August 2019 - “The Future Is Now” Mentorship Exhibition
June - Aug. 2019 - “Perspectives of Home” juried group exhibition at 1619 Flux
Gallery, Louisville, KY
July 2019 - Louisville Artisans Guild Annual Show at KORE Gallery,
Louisville, KY
March 2019 - “Welcome to Louisville Artisan Guild” juried group exhibition at KORE Gallery, Louisville, KY
March 2019 - “Embracing Our Shared Humanity” juried group exhibition at
4 Market Square and Johnson University, Knoxville, TN
Jan. 2019 - “Heroes” Juried Group Exhibition at Art Sanctuary, Louisville, KY
Aug. 2018 - “Provocative Perspectives” Juried Group
Jan. 2019 - Exhibition at 1619 Flux Gallery, Louisville, KY
Sept. 2018 - Group Exhibition at the Global Gourmet event, Louisville, KY
July 2018 - “A Celebration of Color: Oil Pastel Portraits by Susan E. Brooks” Solo Show, Open Community Arts Center Gallery, Louisville, KY
June 23, 2018 - “KRM We Create, World Refugee Week Festival Final Showcase,”
Juried Group Exhibition, Brown Theatre, Louisville, KY
June 20, 2018 - “Welcoming America” Juried Group Exhibition with “KRM We
Create” Artists, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Louisville, KY
June 16, 2018 - “KRM We Create,” World Refugee Week Festival Juried Group
Exhibition, Woodlawn Better Block Pop-up Event, Louisville, KY
May 18, 2018 - “Barn Gallery Fundraiser” Juried Group Exhibition, hosted by the Food Literacy Project, Field Day Farm, Louisville, KY
ART PUBLICATIONS & PUBLIC MEDIA
Oct. 2020 - Interviewed by MetroTV about the “Art In City Hall” Exhibition
July 2020 - Artwork featured in Artsy Shark’s online Early Summer Showcase
June 2020 - Artwork and Artist’s Talk featured in the KRM World Refugee Day Live Video
Aug. 2019 - Artwork featured on the 1619 Flux Gallery webpage
Aug. 8, 2019 - Interviewed about the TFIN art mentorship on the Artebella radio show on ArtXfm, WXOX, 97.1
July 12, 2019 - Plein air artwork photo published in the Courier Journal
Nov. 2018 - Artwork featured on 1619 Flux Gallery’s Facebook page and
Instagram feed.
June 2018 - Artwork featured in the KRM We Create, World Refugee Week
Festival Promotional Video
July 2017 - Featured in Artebella - Louisville Visual Art’s online Publication
TEACHING AND PUBLIC LECTURES
Sept. - Nov. 2022 - Pastels and acrylics instructor, Oldham Co. Schools Arts Center, Crestwood, KY
June - Aug. 2019 - Mentor for “The Future is Now” summer program for gifted high school art students, in cooperation with Louisville Visual Art and the Kentucky College of Art and Design
Dec. 29, 2018 - Artist’s Talk - Presentation at 1619 Flux Gallery, Louisville, KY
2014 - 2019 - High School Visual Arts Teacher, including AP Studio Art classes, Portland Christian High School, Louisville, KY
2001 - 2009 - High School English, including AP, and Visual Arts Teacher, Portland Christian High School, Louisville, KY
1997 - 2000 - High School English and Visual Arts Teacher, Christian Academy of Mozambique, Maputo, Mozambique
1989 - Instructor for Adult Portrait Drawing Classes, Louisville Visual Art Association, Louisville, KY
PUBLISHED WRITING CREDITS
“Donnie,” Nov. 6, 2018, published in the anthology, Prayer Warrior Confessions, compiled by Harriet Michael and Shirley Crowder. Pix-N-Pens Publishing, Dallas, TX
“Peacemaking through Art,” Dec. 2, 2015, published by https://www.peacecatalyst.org
Link to article: https://www.peacecatalyst.org/blog/2017/7/20/peacemaking-through-art?rq=Susan%20Brook“Two Nighttime Flights,” July 22, 2015, published by https://www.peacecatalyst.org
Link to article: https://www.peacecatalyst.org/blog/2015/7/22/two-nighttime-flights?rq=Susan%20Brooks
"A Funny thing Happened at the Mosque…” May 2, 2012, published by https://www.peacecatalyst.org Link to article: https://www.peacecatalyst.org/blog/2012/5/2/a-funny-thing-happened-at-the-mosque?rq=Susan%20Brooks