This North Carolina area artist does paintings in watercolor, which appear realistic but a closer look reveals how the artist incorporates a variety of techniques including salt, scratching, splashing, pouring and repel to create the finished effect. The artist works primarily from life and her imagination, using photographs only as reference. Suzanne’s passion is aqueous media as an expression of the world around her. She is interested in the forms of nature combined with the structures of man, and the endless variety they present. Recent works demonstrate a serious attention to patterns created by common objects, and how they integrate with their surroundings and each other. Suzanne states, “I have a genuine attraction for groups of things, and the way they interact visually. It is fascinating how objects can be so similar and so different at the same time. I see the repetition of patterns from nature repeated in our manmade world.
Suzanne Hetzel was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and has lived and painted throughout the United States. The opportunity to travel has allowed Suzanne to experience a broad variety of environments that have been a source of great inspiration. She began painting at the age of 8. She first experienced watercolor through the lessons by her grandmother, Dorothea Mendte Taylor. Her early studies included work at the Wallingford Art Center in Pennsylvania under the tutelage of Cyril Gardner. She later graduated from Moore College of Art and Design where she was privileged to study with Georg Sklar, Charles Fahlen, Edward Shenton, Janette Banks, and Robert Koffler. Recently, Suzanne has been painting in other opaque media (acrylic, printmaking), with a focus on the world around her as the thrust of her subject matter. She states, “Artists cannot be defined by a media or a subject. Their inspiration and form of expression must change to keep growing creatively”.
In addition to her fine arts endeavors, Suzanne has worked as a commercial artist, written and illustrated a children’s book entitled Nony the Pirate, designed textiles for R.A. Briggs, and taught various commercial design courses at College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She currently teaches watercolor, drawing, and studio classes as well as workshops. She is also a contributing artist to Watercolor Secrets, and Compendium of Watercolor Techniques, by Robin Berry. Suzanne has paintings and drawings in collections throughout the United States and Great Britain. In addition she has designed and executed murals for a variety of public facilities and private residences. Suzanne is President Emeritus of The Transparent Watercolor Society of America, Past President and Founder of the Kendall Arts Guild, Kendall County, Illinois, and Founder and lifetime member of the Antioch Fine Arts Foundation. She is currently Regional Director for the Watercolor Society of North Carolina