Susanne Belcher

My journey as an artist began over 30 years ago painting colorful semi-abstract Southwest landscapes in oils and watercolor.

Captured by collage and mixed media, the direction of my work has changed dramatically over the years. And, although I still paint, my "paint brush" is now often through the lens of a camera or iPhone. My photo collages allow me to meld together captured images of light and shadows, architectural elements and the mood inducing landscapes of L.A. and DTLA. Day or night, freeway blurs, building facades, distorted landscapes, graffiti, billboards, glitches, store windows, reflections are translated into seductive, colorful virtual reality-scapes.

Susanne Belcher, a native Californian, and award winning mixed media semi-abstract artist, began incorporating photography into her paintings and collages several years ago. Her experimentation with transparency film, scanning images, layering, overlaying and collaging these elements into her creations extended her visual language. Her images, always compelling, whether minimal or complex, retain a consistent emotional narrative component that is unique, sophisticated and often surreal and mysterious. Her innate ability to distill images through layers of reduction and compilation in mixed media provided a natural transition to digital photography.

She has exhibited in Germany and galleries throughout So. California in both solo and group exhibitions since 1991. The recipient of numerous awards, her work is held in private and corporate collections in the U.S. and Europe. She was a founding partner and represented artist of the former Abbot Kinney Art Gallery (Venice, CA), is currently represented by Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts Gallery (DTLA). She is an active member of Women Painters West, Thousand Oaks Art Association, California Art League and currently sits on the Board of Collage Artists of America and The Fine Arts Club of Pasadena. She is also co-author of an art/nature essay book “Looking for 527” about the journeys of a Yellowstone Wolf killed in 2009 during the first Montana wolf hunt (available on Amazon.com)