About the Artist

 Susan Reynolds-Smith is a Wisconsin native and full-time Door County resident since 2010.  A University of Minnesota graduate, she spent her professional career as a retail apparel buyer for major department stores, traveling to key markets in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle and Asia.   It was in this role as a buyer that she began exploring color, shape, and design through product development.  Susan began her art career as an oil painter in 2015.  Primarily self-taught, she was inspired to paint by studying art history, traveling throughout Europe and by the endless beauty of Door County.

           “I am inspired by the Post-Impressionist and Art Nouveau movements in Europe from the turn of the 20th century.  I use bold color, strong shapes and composition of line to create expressionistic  interpretations of  architecture, still life and the beauty of nature.  My art is an honest form of self-expression and a chance to share something of my personality with the viewer.  I work with oil on canvas in both the studio and plein air settings.  There is always an element of surprise when a painting evolves through color relationships and developing scenes.  This discovery process is for me the gift of creating art.”

 Susan has been accepted consecutive years 2019-2025 Collection Invitational Hardy Gallery, 2020 From The Studios Juried Exhibition Peninsula School of Art, 2021 A Visual Thread Community Art Project Peninsula School of Art, 46th  45th,  44th, 43rd, and 41st Juried Exhibition of the Miller Art Museum, Annual Juried Exhibit of the Hardy Gallery , 2020-2023 Door Prize for Portraiture,  featured artist 2022 Espresso Palette Chicago Ridge, Il  and 2020 PenArt  Community Showcase.  Her work has also been exhibited at  Base Camp Coffee Bar 2025, Door County YMCA Fish Creek,  Unitarian Universalist Gallery and Hope Church Lobby Gallery.   Featured artist Door County Community Foundation fall 2023.