New England and Connecticut Portrait Artist, Portrait Painter, Susan Durkee

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"The Art of portraiture is my life long commitment. I see each new portrait commission as an opportunity to record for posterity the unique spirit of an individual, not only for the family, but for generations to come. A portrait is a timeless expression of love."
—Susan B. Durkee

"I have known Susan for over ten years, and she is a person of great quality. Susan is a professional painter, and is a fine portraitist as well as a painter of landscapes"
—Everett Raymond Kinstler, April 2001

The artist with her award winning portrait of "Jim Thorpe, The Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century"

Watch her National Art Museum of Sport Video Interview: Susan B. Durkee talks Passion

An award winning artist, Susan works out of her spacious West Redding, Connecticut studio, The Lobster Pot, so named by Mark Twain who owned the property at the turn of the century. A true New Englander, Susan is a direct descendants of some of the earliest families that settled in America in the mid-1600's.

Susan has made art a lifelong commitment. To her, each portrait is an opportunity to express the unique spirit of each individual character. She believes a portrait is a cherished heirloom to be shared and enjoyed generation after generation.

Susan takes pride in being primarily self trained. She has painted since she was a small child and believes that both her unrelenting determination and intense studies of the Old Masters, particularly Valesquez and John Singer Sargent, have brought her the success she now enjoys.

Susan graduated from Greens Farms Academy, attended one year at the School of Fine Arts at Boston University, and received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Vermont. Her work is displayed in private collections throughout the country and she has been featured on 4 Cable Television Shows, appeared in Fairfield Country Times magazine, The Artist Magazine, MSNBC Connecticut News, The News Times, Signature Magazine, The Johns Hopkins Odyssey Magazine and National Geographic. Susan has won awards and has participated in many prestigious Juried National Art Shows including: The Oil Painters of America, American Women Artists, Connecticut Portrait Society, National Art Museum of Sport and Salmagundi Club.

New England Portrait Artist Susan Durkee

The Artist at the Players Club, New York
Lucille Lortel Portrait presentation
The 2011 Players Hall of Fame
Inductee Dinner

- Salmagundi Club of New York
- Portrait Society of America
- Artist Fellowship of New York
- Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists
- Colonial Dames of America, for the State of Connecticut
- Oil Painters of America
- The Players Club
- Catherine Lorrillard Wolfe
- Cecelia Beaux Forum
- Allied Artists

Corporate & Institutional Collections

Cancer Research Institute		Mark Twain Library, Redding, Ct.
Westley Wolcott Inc, NY.		Mark Twain House, Hartford, Ct.
Vesco Inc. Redding, Ct.		Wellesley College, MA.
Baylor University Medical Hospital, TX.		Southern Methodist University, TX
UST Inc. Stamford, Ct.		New Pond Farm Ed.Ctr. Redding. Ct.
Christ Episcopal Church, Redding, Ct.		Johns Hopkins University
The Players Club		Greens Farms Academy
The Westport Country Playhouse		Easton Press
Westport Public Library		The Lucille Lortel Foundation
		The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp
		Malcolm Baldrige School of Business, Post University

Susan Boone Durkee, at the presentation of the portrait of former Greens Farms
Academy Head mistress, Nancy E. Lauber. Green Farms Academy, May 19th 2012

2011 Shows and Awards

Salmagundi Club, Margery Soroka Memorial Award, the top award, "Summer Potpourri Show"

The National Art Museum of Sporting Art, International Exhibition "A Commitment to Excellence" in Indianapolis, Indiana. Won the prestigious "Founders Award" for "Jim Thorpe, Greatest Athlete of the 2oth Century"

Players Club, New York, "Hall of Fame Inductee Exhibition"

Handwright Gallery, New Canaan, Ct. "Taming the Wild Show"

Salmagundi Club, New York, "Annual Members Juried Exhibition"

Salmagundi Club, New York, "Thumb-box Exhibition"

Salmagundi Club, New York, "Glesmann Floral Exhibition"

The Artist in her studio painting the first strokes of her Portrait of Isabel Lyon, for the upcoming Documentary, "The Redding Mark Twain" by PBS Director James Nicoloro. Isabel Lyon was Mark Twain's controversial and little known companion from 1904-1909. Photo credit James Nicoloro

2010 Shows and Awards

19th National Oil Painters of America Show, Scottsdale, Arizona

The Salmagundi Club, Presidents Award for Excellence, the top award, · in The Noble Nocturne Theme Show

American Woman Artists 2010 National Juried Competition, Southwest Gallery in Dallas Texas

The National Art Museum of Sporting Art, "A Commitment to Excellence" in Indianapolis, Indiana

Salmagundi Club, New York, "Annual Members Juried Exhibition"

Handwright Gallery, New Canaan, Ct. "Taming the Wild Show"

Beardsley Gallery, Wilton, Ct Theme Shows

Sharon Historical Society, Sharon Ct . A one woman Show , "Capturing the Spirit"

NPR Connecticut Public Radio, Interview

Salmagundi Club , New York, "Glesmann Floral Exhibition"

Original Paintings For Sale

Mark Twain Centennial Collection