Susan Abbott

Growing up in Washington, D.C., Susan Abbott had an early love of drawing encouraged by her artist father, as well as an interest in textile craft learned from her mother. These creative childhood activities, as well as many happy hours exploring neighborhood woods and streams, gave Abbott a connection to artistic handwork and to nature that have informed her work as a painter.

In her eagerness to begin formal art education, Abbott dropped out of high school to attend the Maryland Institute, College of Art, where she received a BFA and MFA with Israel Hershberg and Grace Hartigan as her advisors. Abbott has been working as a professional artist since that time, exhibiting in galleries and museums around the country, and teaching art workshops around the world.

Susan Abbott works in oil and watercolor, both en plein air and in the studio. When painting her large compositions, she gathers references on-site and then allows invented colors and shapes to take over in the studio and combine with memory to create an image that’s completely new. The paintings that result from this alchemy of the real and abstract communicate to the viewer Abbott’s deep love for the familiar yet mysterious landscapes of Maine and Vermont.