Susan Nicholas Gephart Biography
The Emotion of the Moment
Focusing on the landscape and striving for a personal approach, Susan Nicholas' goal is to see beyond the obvious and capture a mood or essence of what is felt.
Working on location outdoors, whether in pastels or oils, allows for spontaneity and directness. Responding to the sound, smell, and light of the environment influences each interpretation. The essential elements of these paintings are color, shape, sense of atmosphere, and the emotion of the moment.
In the creation of her large studio works, music provides energy for inspiration. When all that exists is the response to color, marks, and the inner music of painting, then all is in harmony, and there is a sense of balance.
A Deep Appreciation for Earth
Susan Nicholas Gephart graduated with honors in 1977 and 1979, with an Associate in Art from Montgomery County Community College, and with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Pennsylvania State University.
She has been painting award winning landscapes "Plein Air" for thirty years. Susan's deep appreciation of the earth is seen in her colorful, impressionistic pastels and oils, mostly painted "Plein Air."
She has shown with The Pastel Society of America and The Art of the State of Pennsylvania, won Best of Show in The Central Festival of the Arts, and is in the permanent collections of The Penn Stater Conference Center and The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art.
In October 2007, Susan was inducted into the Montgomery County Community College Alumni Hall of Fame.
A Commitment to the Community
Committed to the idea of bringing art to the public and creating environmental awareness through her landscape painting, Susan has worked for over two decades coordinating exhibits for the Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association, served on the Board of Directors of the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania, donated to The Clearwater Conservancy, is a member of The Centre County Farmland Trust and the Farmland Preservation Artists, and is Vice President of The Central Pennsylvania Pastel Society. She has taught through The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, teaches private lessons in her home studio, and organizes artist retreats and workshops at Hameau Farm Studio in Belleville, PA.
Believing in mentoring her love of the land and art, she sponsors a high school memorial scholarship each year, in honor of David M. Hopkins, fellow landscape painter and teacher.
Susan's landscapes can be seen at Langman Gallery in Willow Grove, PA; Faustina's in Lewisburg, PA; Victorian House Antiques & Artisan Gallery in Bellefonte, PA; and her home studio.
Susan, her husband, and her three children reside in Bellefonte, PA.
From June through August of 2008, Susan and her father, Tom Nicholas, will have a retrospective exhibit of twenty years painting together, entitled "Landscape Passages," at Montgomery Community College.
