Susan Hubble Pitcairn
Susan Hubble Pitcairn (1949 — ) fuses inspirational poetry with her vibrant landscapes in oils, acrylics and pastels. Her images express both the particular and the universal.
Since moving to Sedona, Arizona in 2006 Pitcairn has produced a series of multi-media inspirational exhibits with paintings, poems and music. Her first volume of paintings and poems, "The Poetry of Place" (2009) is a rare expression of the inner world of the outer landscape.
A cloud-shrouded mountain expresses strength and endurance in the face of adversity. A winding path encourages us to trust the ever-changing mysteries of life's unknowns. And the vast divides of the Grand Canyon humbles us to life's constant reminders that, in time, all forms dissolve and return to something more elemental and transcendent.
Pitcairn's poetry and artistic symbols frequently emphasize the universal and transcendent. A lifelong student of spiritual philosophies and practice, she believes that the expression of that underlying spirit is the true aim of all the arts, whether we realize it or not.
She writes eloquently about three core principles of art with parallels in music, architectural, performing arts, science, society, economics and virtually every aspect of inner and outer life. For a free download of her small book, "Awaken To Beauty: Principles of Art and of Creation," click here. For a 8.5 x 11 chart that summarizes these core principle, click here.
BACKGROUND
Born in DuQuoin, Illinois (December 7, 1949), Susan Hubble moved with her family to Arizona at age 8. There she fell in love with the rugged beauty of the Southwest and began painting it from monthly issues of "Arizona Highways." She won numerous awards in student exhibits, including a National Finalist in the 1967 Scholastic Art and Photography Awards. She entered the University of Arizona as an art major (1967-9) but not satisfied with the abstract expressionism in vogue at the time, she transferred to social sciences, later earning a bachelors (Phi Beta Kappa) from Berkeley and an MS in social psychology from UC Santa Cruz (1974). Soon, however, her artistic drive called her back to drawing and painting, as she dropped out of the university to make her living selling from outdoor shows and local galleries in California. This included a series of portraits of Native Americans in pencil on wood, with beans and seeds on barnwood frames.
"Pomo Light," 1974 drawing on wood.
In 1976 she met and later married Dr. Richard Pitcairn, with whom she co-authored a best-selling book on natural health for animals, "Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats." The couple lived in Santa Cruz, California from 1979 to 1985, where Pitcairn also studied art primarily with Tom Allen at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California (1980-82). Her training with Allen emphasized the colorist French Impressionist. In Santa Cruz she also studied with pastelist Kitty Wallis, who later went on to develop a top-of-the-line special paper for pastels.
During this period Susan painted the masterful "Of Heaven and Earth" (29x36 oil) a stately California live oak on the campus of the University of California, available in limited edition giclees.
Susan Pitcairn, ca. 1982 / "Of Heaven & Earth," 29x36 oil, ca. 1982
In 1985 the Pitcairns moved to Eugene, Oregon, opened the Animal Natural Health Center and began a period with years of travels, offering Dr. Pitcairn's successful and unique seminars and courses on homeopathy to veterinarians. Susan continued occasional drawing and painting, but primarily exercised her artistry through graphic, craft, landscape and architectural design projects while she also continued her lifelong interest in psychology and spirituality with the study and practice of counseling and bodywork.
But art continued to call, in her middle years drawing her to find a new synthesis and power based on combining her three major lifelong loves: art, writing and spirituality. So in 2006, following Richard's retirement from active practice, the couple moved to the art colony of Sedona, Arizona, near Susan's childhood home of Phoenix and Susan resumed her art career on a full time basis. In Sedona she found fertile ground for art. There she studied and worked with top plein air painters John Cogan, Marcia Burtt, Clive Pates, Cody DeLong, Clark Mitchell and designed and built a beautiful home studio with views of Sedona's red rocks.
SHOWS & GALLERIES
Soon Pitcairn was back on track, seamlessly picking up and further developing the painting career she had largely set aside in the 1980s. Beginning in 2007, she entered several national and local exhibitions and immediately received a number of awards, including Top 200 in the 2007 and 2008 national Paint the Parks ("Surrender," "Life at the Edge") and First Place in Professional Painting at the annual Sedona Arts Center Annual Juried Show of both 2007 and 2008 ("Friends," "Tree of LIfe").
"Friends," 24x30 acrylic
First Place Professional Painting, 2007 Sedona Arts Center Juried Show
Following a life-long calling and thriving in a community known for its support of the arts, Pitcairn then began to unleash her creative energies designing and producing both solo and group shows and venues combining art with inspirational words and/or music.
Her first such event was "Closer Than Breathing," at the Spirit Art Gallery in Jerome in June 2008. The exhibit threaded together about a dozen paintings, each illustrating the line of a poem calling the viewer to an inner beauty within, that is "closer than breathing." Gallery owner Rosemarie Shemaitis offered her full support for Pitcairn's vision and continued featuring her work for the duration of the gallery's operations.
Pitcairn at "Closer Than Breathing," 2007
Encouraged to continue, Pitcairn went on to produce a series of innovative multi-media exhibits combining paintings with poetry readings, lectures, demos and live music at the Special Exhibitions Gallery of the Sedona Arts Center. These shows, featuring both her own works and those of others she wished to encourage, brought a breath of inspiration to the area's creative community:
- "Paintings, Poems, Music and Spirit" (2007)
- "Messages of the Heart" (2008)
- "In the Presence of Beauty" (2008)
- "Gratitude for Life" (2008)
- "The Poetry of Art" (2009)
- "Oneness: The Art of the Universal" (2011)
Musician Chris Spheeris reading his poetry, and visitors at "Paintings, Poems, Music & Spirit" (2007)
Starting in 2009 Pitcairn has produced two limited-edition collector books combining her original paintings and poetry:
- The Poetry of Place (2009)
- To Befriend Eternity (2010)
Although the focus of her attention has been on creating these special exhibits and venues where possible, Pitcairn has also shown at several regional galleries (Spirit, Canyons, Kinion) but primarily the popular Sedona Arts Center Gallery, which has featured her paintings at several shows:
- "Season of Change" (2008)
- "A Step Beyond " (2010) - including poetry reading before the opening reception
- "Air" (2011)
In 2008, 2010 and 2011 SAC also invited her paint to paint in their prestigious Sedona Plein Air Festival, featuring well-known artists from around the country. There her fresh painterly style have attracted high attention and sales:
At the uptown paintout, October 2010, and "Journey," 24x24 (sold at 2010 festival)
Attracting the attention of curator Virginia Pates, Pitcairn was also honored to be invited to a one-woman show, "Susan Pitcairn: Poetry and Art" at the Verde Gallery at Yavapai College, Clarkdale (March 12 - April 8, 2010).
And yet for years Pitcairn had dreamed of a new vision for art, a place where people could open to beauty with all their senses, and in the process find a moment of inner reflection, joy, hope or courage, something beyond the ordinary. Following the dream, with the encouragement and help of an artist friend (Lola Dennis) in March 2010 she gave it her all and opened The Susan Pitcairn Gallery in west Sedona. With part-time help from friends and associate artists, there she produced monthly shows and events with poetry readings, painting demonstrations, live music and food-filled receptions. See 30-second video clip.
In addition to her own works, the lively gallery showed the art of Vince Fazio, Lola Dennis, Susan Zalkind, Leon Haller, Clive Pates, Sherry Ratner, Rose Moon, Suzy Allan, Mary Lois Brown and John Danbury. "The gallery was a wonderful six month show," Pitcairn muses, "But the schedule and management demands of running a retail business were not that compatible with the lifestyle needs of an artist, at least for me." So in September 2010, when she had an opportunity to sell the space, Pitcairn happily returned to the greater freedom and leisure of her home studio and the great outdoors to explore and experiment with new depth in her painting.
There she continues to paint, as well as to teach and to offer occasional special multi-media inspirational exhibits, such as "Oneness: The Art of The Universal," a month-long exhibit at the Sedona Arts Center's Special Exhibition Gallery (opening 11-11-11).
TEACHING & MEMBERSHIPS
In addition to painting and producing multi-media projects, Pitcairn also offers occasional classes at the Sedona Arts Center, where she has taught:
- Plein Air Intensive at Saguaro Lake Ranch (2008, with Cody DeLong)
- Awaken To Beauty (2008)
- The Heart of Landscape Art (2009, 2010) -- included books of students' art and poetry
- Invite a Masterpiece (2010, 2011)
She also teaches plein air workshops privately at Saguaro Lake Ranch, both solo (2010, 2011) and with DeLong (2009).
Pitcairn has been juried into membership in several artist associations, participating in annual shows and other events:
- Oil Painters of America
- Arizona Plein Air Painters
- The Sedona Arts Center
- The Sedona Visual Artists Coalition
"On This Earth," 12x15 oil sold at APAP Annual Show, April 2011
In recent years some of her early works done from ages 17 to 30 have re-surfaced to the market, selling wellWith the hope of at least 15 to 20 more years to paint, Susan is an artist to watch as she continues to mature into her unique blend of talents. Her collector base is growing and her works are in collections from Italy to New Zealand.
"Spring Storm," 36 x 36 oil, 1982/ "Beyond the Divide" (36x36 oil, 2007-9)
Visitors to Sedona are invited to see her current works at The Susan Pitcairn Studio , on this website, and at the Sedona Arts Center in Uptown Sedona.
For more information contact:
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