Artist’s statement &
Curriculum Vitae
©2024 Susan McDonnell A still life in process for a solo show in 2025 at Sullivan Goss Gallery
Susan McDonnell creates still life paintings of the curious drama that plays out when elements of nature come together and form a tableau. Her still life paintings are meditations on the quiet beauty and exquisite details of the natural world.
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“McDonnell follows a long tradition from John James Audubon to Robert Bateman. She paints the mystery we can sense, but never fully understand, in the lives of the family of animals, of which we are members.”
-Richard Louv, author of Our Wild Calling
Education
1991 MFA Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
1982 BFA Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Radiant Realm - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2022 Chorus of Birds - Abend Gallery, Denver, CO
2020 A Quiet Nature - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2018 The Walls Became the World All Around - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2016 The World at Home - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2014 Curiouser & Curiouser! - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2007 Still Lives - Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2004 Susan McDonnell - ON Gallery, South Pasadena, CA
Group Exhibitions
2024 Wonderland - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2023 Surreal Women - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2021 California On MY Mind - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2021 The San Francisco Fall Show - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2021 Animalia - Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
2021 Paper Trail - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2021 Animalia - Abend Gallery, Denver, CO
2021 The Summer Salon - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2021 Towards the Light - Kate Oh Gallery, New York, NY
2021 Organic - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA.
2021 Real Women - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA.
2021 Peace & Quiet -Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2020 The Winter Salon - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2020 Midnight Garden - Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019 Mixology: Classic + Contemporary Combinations - Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2019 Masterworks - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2018 Contemporary Bear Area Artists - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2018 Spring Break - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2018 Show Me Your Hand - Coagula Curatorial, Los Angeles, CA
2018 All in One - Kate Oh Gallery, New York, NY
2017 Five and Under - Arcadia Contemporary, Culver City, CA
2017 Masterworks - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2017 Spring Salon - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2016 You Are Here - Surrogate Gallery Projects, Pasadena, CA
2016 You Are Here - Moorpark College, Moorpark, CA
2016 Winter Salon - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2015 Mixed Nuts - Jose Drudis-Biada Gallery, Los Angeles
2011-2021 100 Grand Show - Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2011 Summer Group Show - Gallery Bergelli, Larkspur, CA
2009 Insight/Inside LA Jose Drudis-Biada Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Contemporary Realism Invitational - Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2008 Still Lifes, Objects and Other Narratives - Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2007 Contemporary Realism Invitational - Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2007 Hausguests - HAUS Gallery/ Brewery Project, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Contemporary Realism Invitational - Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2005 Contemporary Realism Invitational - Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Bibliography
Hope Doe, Susan McDonnell: Quiet Relationships in Quiet Spaces-Beautiful Bizarre online 1/21/2021
Kerry Methner, Susan McDonnell: Curiouser & Curiouser! - CASA, June 20, 2014
Elizabeth Cook-Romero, Where Illusion and Reality Live Together - The New Mexican, April 6, 2007
Rinchen Lhamo, Susan McDonnell: Still Lives: New Work THE Magazine, May 2007
Featured Collections and Awards
Hilbert Museum of California Art, Orange, CA
Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2020, 2nd prize INPRNT Traditional Art Award