Susan was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she still lives and has a large studio in the Sugar House area of Salt Lake. She also lives part time in the small rural historic Utah town of Spring City where she can often be found painting in plein air in the beautiful surrounding fields. Her creative attention was captured at a young age by the breathtaking Western landscape she grew up in, from its vast deserts, to the open farmlands with rural homes and buildings to the high mountain country.
She believes strongly in painting what one is most familiar with and that has kept her painting areas of Utah and the West. As a direct descendant from one of the first five scouts into the Salt Lake Valley with the Brigham Young/Vanguard Wagon Train she has spent her life visiting her ancestors homesteads and painting those and others like them.
An art collector of her work stated“One can feel the sun’s warmth in her open landscapes where light is dancing across a distant homestead”.
Over thirty five years ago she moved her studio to her father’s King Building in Sugar House and thus called her studio Kings Cottage Academy where she has painted, taught and held life drawing sessions ever since. Many successful professional artists studied for years at her academy under Susan or one of the other instructors including University of Utah professors who teach there.
Susan has been written about in several major books including A Century of Sanctuary, Painters of Utah’s Canyons and Deserts, Artists of Utah, The Best of Flower Painting, Utah Painting and Sculpture, and Strokes of Genius. She has been written about in several magazines including articles with photographs, Utah Homes and Gardens, 2004 Modern issue, The Western Art Collector, October 2010 issue, Utah Preservation volume 6 and articles in several online magazines including 15 Bytes, Provo Word, etc. Images of her paintings have been published in several calendars by various organizations including First National Bank 2008 and Community Nursing Service 2009.
A few major art collections her paintings have been purchased for are the Springville Museum of Art, the St. George Fine Art Museum, Fairview Museum of Art, Zions National Bank, The Bank of Southern Utah, The Salt Lake International Airport, The University of Utah, The Salt Lake County Collection, Sandy City Hall, South Jordan City Hall and many large firms and organizations.
Website: www.susangallacher.com
