Susan Guthrie, a fourth generation Montanan, has lived in the Flathead Valley for 32 years. She is a seasoned Art Educator and currently a full-time professor at Flathead Valley Community College. She earned a Master’s in Studio with New York University with temporary residency in Venice, Italy and Berlin, Germany. She also studied for a Master’s of Art History from Studio Art College International, Florence, Italy/Bowling Green State University, Ohio and her Bachelor of Science in Art and Music Education, grades K-12, from University of Montana Western. For three years Susan served as the President for the Montana Art Education Association. She is a three-time recipient of the Who’s Who Among American Teachers, was nominated by a student for The Claes Noble National Honor Society of High School Scholars. She has been selected as Art Educator of the Year for the State of Montana. Her work has received recognition twice for The People’s Choice Award at the Hockaday Museum of Art. Susan has traveled extensively and studied with Australian Master Watercolorist, Joseph Zbukvic, and South African Master Oil Painter, Ryno Swart. She has hosted solo exhibitions, one of which was selected by the Montana Art Gallery Director’s Association where thirty pieces of her work traveled for one year around the Western United States. She participates in multiple auctions and group exhibitions as her work has been featured in both Florence and Venice, Italy and Berlin Germany. She is an outdoor enthusiast, a practicing musician, and a lover of dinner parties and dark chocolate.

Artist Statement

Nature continues to inspire Susan Guthrie’s work. She develops her field sketches in her studio along with in house portraiture and still life pieces. She embraces the traditional methods of the Old Masters such as John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, and Joaquin Sorolla, as well as, Diego Velazquez, J.M.W. Turner, and J.A.M. Whistler. These tried and true practices inform her work and her pursuit of mood and atmosphere evoking the beauty of foggy, smokey, and misty moments of dawn or dusk and the seasons. The use of a subtle range of similar color tones on a scale between red, blue, and yellow subdued with earth, sky tones, admixtures of greys, blacks and whites, produce sensations of tranquil, quiet and restful harmonious notes. Her expressionistic studies of luminous light, colorization, and atmosphere have a wide range of sublimity as she tries to capture the power and lyrical grandeur of nature. Vibration and refraction of these tones evoke the immediacy of an emotional response and mystery. Painting plein-aire has challenges when capturing swift changes in color temperature, and dappled light. All of which, for Susan, are worth the wait in nature’s poetic fleeting moments. Susan’s “Jazz” series, “Roots of Rhythm”, was birthed out of her rich family heritage as her Grandfather, Edgar, traveled Montana with his own jazz, blues, and Dixieland orchestra. Her Mom, JoAnn would fill in from time to time on the piano for various dances that he scheduled. Susan’s own love for these music styles as well as her experience studying and singing them also influenced her. The loose watercolor style along with illustrative compositions lends itself to the vacillating scales of both blues and jazz.

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SUSAN GUTHRIE, M.A.
539 Crestview Road, Kalispell, MT 59901 | 406–751–3510 | 406–314–0000 | sguthrie@fvcc.edu

CURRENT ACADEMIC AFFILIATIONS

Fulltime Professor of Art, Department of Art, Flathead Valley Community College [FVCC], Kalispell, Montana
Director, FVCC Semester Abroad Program, Venice, Italy

EDUCATION

M.A. Studio Art New York University [NYU], Steinhardt School of Education, Culture & Human Development [on location in Venice, Italy and Berlin, Germany]
Exhibitions: NYU-IUAV Venice; AutoCenter, Berlin; Kunz Club, Berlin
Final Thesis Contemporary Art: Dystopic Dream/Dystopic Dream II

M.A. Art History Studio Art Center International, [SACI] Florence, Italy and Bowling Green State University [BGSU], Bowling Green, Ohio
Major Thesis: Two Michelangelos: Gift to the Twentieth Century;
Sub-Thesis: Caravaggio’s Living Figures—Innovations Taken From the Pauline Chapel

B.S. Education Art and Music K–12 Emphasis, Western Montana College [WMC], Dillon, MT
Magna Cum Laude
A.A. Science WMC, Dillon, MT

LANGUAGES

Italian (near-native fluency); Spanish (intermediate); Portuguese (beginner)

LEADERSHIP

2004–2007 President, Montana Art Education Association [MAEA]
2005–present Founder and Art History Tour Leader, “Taste of Italy”
2005–present I.B. Art Program Trainer and Program Evaluator
2003–present Board Member, Stumptown Art Studio, Whitefish, Montana
2004–2013 Vice President, Philanthropic Educational Organization [PEO]

HONORS & AWARDS

2010 Claus Noble Educator of Distinction
2007– Montana Art Educator of the Year, 2007, 2008
2007– People’s Choice Award, 2007, 2012
The Hockaday Museum of Art, Member’s Salon
2007 National Report Card for America’s Outstanding Teachers
2002– Who’s Who Among American Teachers, 2002, 2005, 2008

EXPERIENCE

2000–2014 Adjunct Faculty, FVCC, Kalispell, Montana
2009-2014 FVCC Venice Semester Abroad–Visiting Professor and Program Advisor
ARTH 225 FG, Art and Architecture of Venice
ARTZ 193, Watercolor Travel Journaling Around Italy
ARTH 226 History and Culture of Venice
ARTH 200 FGH, Art of World Civilizations I
ARTH 201 FGH, Art of World Civilizations II
ARTZ–222, ARTZ–226 Oil Painting I & II
EDU 297 Methods of Art Education
ARTZ 105 F01, Visual Language: Drawing I
ARTZ 212, Drawing Studio: Personal Style
ARTZ 211, Drawing Studio: Life Drawing
1986–2014 Art Faculty, Flathead High School, Kalispell, Montana
Art Foundations
Art Survey
Jewelry
Drawing I & II
Advanced Placement Visual Art
Painting I & II
International Baccalaureate Visual Arts
Art Trek, traveling with students domestically and abroad

1987–1991 Editorial Art Producer, Scott Publishing, Kalispell, Montana

1987–1993 Art Illustrator, Re/Max, Kalispell, MT

1988–1992 Fitness Instructor, Kalispell Athletic Club

ACTIVITIES

1993–2001 Overseas Humanitarian Aid Provider, Missionary Programs
Germany, Holland, Czech Republic, & Egypt
1988–1991 Director, Youth For Christ
1986–1992 Vocalist, Glacier Orchestra and Chorale/Chamber Choir

EXHIBITIONS

2015 Heart of the West, Coeur d’Alene, ID
2013 Supportico Lopez Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Graduate Thesis Exhibition
2012 Auto Center, Berlin, Germany
Juried Exhibition
2011 Coemeterium, San Giovanni Evangelista, Venice, Italy
International University of Art Venice [IUAV]– NYU
Juried Exhibition
2013 Gallery 131, Kalispell, Montana, 2013
2005 Hockaday Museum of the Art, Kalispell, Montana
Solo Exhibition
Member’s Salon, Miniature Show, and Auction 1995–present
2005 Montana Art Gallery Director’s Association
Traveling Solo Exhibition 2005, 2006
2005, 2017 Stumptown Art Studio, Whitefish, MT,
Solo Exhibition
2005 Woman’s Caucus, National Art Convention, Denver, CO
Juried Exhibition

2002 Studio Art Center International Galleria, Florence, Italy
Juried Exhibition
2003 Studio Art Center International Galleria, Florence Italy
Juried Exhibition
2003 Glacier Gallery, Kalispell, MT
Solo Exhibition
1997 Big Fork Cultural Center
Group Exhibition
1994 Art On The Green, Spokane WA
Juried Booth

AUCTIONS

2019 Kalispell Regional Hospital
2019 CORWIN
2018 Whitefish Foundation/Iron Horse- Summer Social
2016 Montana Land Alliance
2013-Present Flathead Valley Community College Semester In Venice
2013-Present Flathead Valley Community College Foundation
2013 Glacier Orchestra and Chorale
2012-14 Tamarack Grief Resource Center
2011,12 Hockaday Plein Aire Paint Out
2005-present Hockaday Museum of Art Miniatures
2001 Whitefish Foundation Great Bear Affair

CONFERENCES

2013 International Baccalaureate Visual Art
Regional Consultant
2012 International Baccalaureate Visual Art
Regional Consultant
2010 School District #5
International Baccalaureate Assessment Guide,
Head of Research, Execution of the Document
2007 125th Annual MAEA State Conference
Organizer and Presenter
2006 124th Annual MAEA State Conference
Organizer and Presenter
2005 123rd Annual MAEA State Conference
Presenter
2003– Stumptown Art Studio, Fundraising for Non–Profits
Yearly Educator, 2003-present
2001– Montana Art Inter–Scholastics, Weekend Workshop for Students in Montana, FHS and FVCC 2001, 2006
Associate Organizer and Presenter

SKILLS

REFERENCES

John Rawlings, MFA, Director of Art Department, FVCC
jrawling@fvcc.edu; 406-756-3896
Wes Hines, MA, Department Head, FHS
hinesw@sd5.k12.mt.us; 406-314-3147
David Darts, PhD, Chair, NYU Steinhardt Dept of Art and Art Professions
darts@nyu.edu, 212-998-5700
Gerda Reeb, PhD, MA, International Student Coordinator, FVCC
greeb@fvcc.edu, Phone 406-756-3889
Gianni Sirch,PhD, University of Udine Professor of Contemporary Art
giannisirch@libero.it, 011-39-333-3944-627 (Udine, Italy)

About

About Susan

Artist Statement

CV