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 descendant 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 Velazquez 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 and Institutional collections throughout the country and she has been featured on 4 Cable Television Shows, appeared in Fairfield Country Times magazine, The Artist Magazine, Fine Art Connoiseur, MSNBC Connecticut News, Ridgefield Magazine, Morris Media, The News Times, Signature Magazine, The Johns Hopkins Odyssey magazine, The Weston Magazine Group 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, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, Connecticut Portrait Society, National Art Museum of Sport and Salmagundi Club.
The artist with her award winning portrait of "Jim Thorpe, The Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century" - Collection of Pro Football Hall of Fame
Memberships
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Salmagundi Club of New York
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Portrait Society of America
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Artist Fellowship of New York
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Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists
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Oil Painters of America
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Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club
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Society of Daughters of Holland Dames
Mrs. Ban, the wife of the Secretary General of the United Nations, visiting the artist in her studio for the final touches on her portrait.
Artist Susan Boone Durkee with the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor, United States Supreme Court Justice at the unveiling of her official portrait at the Southern District Court of New York.
Hall of Fame Yankee Baseball Legend, Mariano Rivera with the Artist, in front of his oil portrait.
"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
Corporate & Institutional Collections
Webster Bank
Leffingwell House Museum, Norwich, CT
Morristown-Beard School, Morristown, NJ
Westminster School, Simsbury, CT
Capital, State of Connecticut
New Hampshire Supreme Court
Capital, State of South Dakota
Grace Church, New York, NY
Ms. Foundation, New York, NY
Emma Willard, Head, Emma Willard School
Bouvier Insurance
National Library of Medicine
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Cancer Research Institute
Westley Wolcott Inc, New York
Vesco Inc. Redding, Connecticut
Baylor University Medical Hospital, Texas
UST Inc. Stamford, Connecticut
Christ Episcopal Church, Redding, Connecticut
Netflix “The Diplomat”
The Players Club
The Westport Country Playhouse
Westport Public Library
Standard Oil of Connecticut
Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Connecticut
Mark Twain Library, Redding, Connecticut
Mark Twain House, Hartford, Connecticut
Wellesley College, Massachusetts
Southern Methodist University, Texas
New Pond Farm Education Center, Redding. Connecticut
Johns Hopkins University
Greens Farms Academy
Easton Press
The Lucille Lortel Foundation
The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp
Malcolm Baldrige School of Business, Post University
The Hotchkiss School
Brothers of the Sacred Heart, Mother House Rome, Italy
Ulbrich Stainless Steels & Special Metals, Inc.
Private Collections
Bouvier Family Collection, West Hartford, CT
Feoli Family Collection New Orleans, LA
Whittingham Family Collection, Stamford, CT
Irene and Alan Gribben, Montgomery, AL
Epstein Family Ridgefield, CT
Shafmaster Family, Newington, NH
The Pepe Family, Greenwich, CT
Ban Ki-moon Family, New York, NY
Dischner Family-Greenwich, CT
Yurman Family, Redding, CT
Fritz Besha Family, New York, NY
Van Vliet Family, Holland
Ferguson Family, Manchester, VT
Kjekstad Family New Canaan, CT
Muhlfeld Family, Newtown, CT
Dudley Family, Ridgefield, CT
Fisher Family Collection, Dallas, TX
Rolfe Family Collection, Scarsdale, NY
Stone Family, Redding, CT
Ughetta Family, New Canaan, CT
Smith Family, New York, NY
Shellenberger Collection, Boston, MA
Markham Family, Santa Barbara, CA
Green Family, Westport, CT
Lane Family, Stamford, CT
Landegger Family Collection, Ridgefield, CT
Halpern Family, Greenwich, CT
Brame Familly, Redding, CT
Johnson Family Collection, Greenwich, CT
Patti LuPone, actress & singer
Dannel Malloy, former Governor of Connecticut
Peter Trippi, Editor, Fine Art Connoisseu
Pruyne Family, Stamford, CT
Collins Family Collection, Dallas, TX
Hunt Collection, Westport, CT
Kolfe Family, Redding, CT
Hughes/Meehl Collection, Redding, CT
LaRosa Family, CA
Caterine Family, Boca Raton, FL
Garavel Family, Redding, CT
Shinall Family, Redding, CT
Kiem Family, NYC, Redding, CT
Wimberly Family, Bridgewater, CT
Hoyt Collection, Beverly Farms, MA
Watt Family, SC
Kelley Family, FL
Staudenmier Collection, New York, NY
Dr. Angeloni Family, Seattle, WA
Lopes Family Collection, Redding, CT
Morris Family, Ridgefield, CT
Britt Family Collection, Westport, CT
Ryder Family, Redding, CT
Valerio Family Greenwich, CT
Urquhart Family, Redding, CT
Cook Family Collection, Redding, CT
Cozens Family, MA
Parks Collection, Unionville, VA
O’Keeffe Family, Ridgefield, CT
Araya Family, Redding, CT
Kelley Family, Ridgefield, CT
Wayne C. Fox Family Collection, Houston, TX
Official portrait unveiling of former Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman, with the Governor of Connecticut, Ned Lamont, State Capital of Connecticut
The presentation and dedication of the official portrait of Brother Norbert McAuliffe, Venerable, at the Mother House of the Brothers of the Scared
Heart, Rome Italy, August 2019
The Artist with former Head of the Hotchkiss School, Peter O’Neill at the unveiling of his portrait in the Hotchkiss School Rotunda, May 2017
Studio & History
To learn more about the Lobster Pot Studio, the current paintings for sale, upcoming events visit the Lobster Pot Sudio & Gallery blog.
To learn about the upcoming workshops go to this page.
The Lobster Pot Studio was built on the original Mark Twain property in 1998. It was lovingly designed by the artist and today functions as an active studio and gallery, offering seasonal shows.
The artist lives with her husband and beloved pets, on the site of the old saltbox and draws great inspiration by the property's extensive formal walled gardens, patios and surrounding 160 acres of Stormfield open space.
Circa 1908 (above left) Isabel and her Mother in front of The Lobster Pot, and Isabel (seating in foreground) in the back of The Lobster Pot showing the original stone patio. (Photo courtsey of the Wayland Family)
Isabel Lyon, Mark Twain and Ralph Ashcroft at Stormfield, 1908
The Lobster Pot rear view showing patio, 1908
History of the "Lobster Pot"
The world famous writer and humorist, Mark Twain, (aka Samuel Clemens), bought the Lobster Pot, located in Redding, Connecticut, in 1906. He called it the Lobster Pot, because the 1720 antique saltbox, was a destination for the Angel Fish Club.
In 1907 Twain gave The Lobster Pot to Isabel Lyons, his secretary, household manager and companion as a Christmas gift. Twain also lent her money to fix it up...an issue that later would lead to Twain’s writing the “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript”. This 429 page manuscript, one of his last major writings and was published in 2015, for the first time, in the final Volume 3 of his Autobiography.
Twain built an Italianate mansion on the acreage which he called Stormfield. This was his last home. After Isabel Lyon left, he lived there with his daughter Jean, and together they founded the Mark Twain Library, which he dedicated to her after her tragic death. Twain died at Stormfield in 1910.