Suzanne Betz: Channeling the Independent Spirit

Growing up in a military family, Suzanne Betz developed an imaginative life to offset the childhood isolation and instability of frequent relocations. Within her fantasies, horses came forward as companion, spirit, and subject for her youthful drawings. Through her intuitive connection with this independent creature, Suzanne found both strength and liberation, which was channeled into her art. More than just an equestrian, she knew she wanted to be an artist.
Suzanne uses a painting’s surface as the threshold to a world between or beyond. Without ground or horizon, rich color fields create an ambiguous space to be filled with the viewer’s thoughts or emotional content. Through her command of contour drawing, Suzanne’s paintings embody a presence, and yet any sense of the material is defied by the alluring effects of luminosity and transparency.
"The act of painting, for me, is spiritual and physical joy, reflecting my own personal inner journey. All of my work is about what happens when we move outside the structure and the known. Images shift, change, obscure and reveal the surprise, humor, mystery and celebration of life.”