of the Expressionist Cunningham won a coveted first prize in one of Paris’ famous salons and has a piece hanging in the Louvre collection.
With solid support and strong family influences, Susan followed her dream of painting fine art. During this time she also married and had a son. It was at this point things began to change. Her husband decided to go to San Jose State. He packed up his family and moved to Cupertino. Susan wanted to continue pursuing her fine art degree at San Jose State. After the move it didn’ t seem possible, however, having two full-time university students in the family while waiting for a GI Bill to arrive.
Her son was just a baby, and money was nonexistent.“ I didn’ t have anything to feed my eighteen month old son,” said Susan. Desperate for work, she fell back on something she had pursued in high school: window painting. Little did she know that this would be the defining moment that would set the course of her life for the next forty years.
She gathered her art supplies and walked from store to store asking if she could paint their windows for Halloween. She received a lot of strange looks and rejection. Dejected but not one to give up easily, Susan walked into a salon to give it one more try. The salon owner said business had been slow and she couldn’ t really afford it. That didn’ t stop Susan.
She continued to press the owner.“‘ It’ s like a greeting to your customers and an attention grabber for those shopping in the center.’ She asked me what I would do and how much I would charge. I meekly said,‘ five dollars. I will paint a spooky tree, jack-o-lanterns and maybe a ghost or two.’” That convinced the salon owner who was so impressed after the fact that she offered to do Susan’ s hair for free to augment her meager fee. Some of the salon’ s regular customers were shop owners and, after seeing her work, also hired her. That was the beginning of Susan’ s career. Not fine art, but at least she was an artist.
As Christmas rolled around it proved to be a lucrative season. Susan made enough money to pay for college and feed her family. The work was“ flexible, lucrative and fun. I put myself through college with what I earned. Later, when my husband and I moved to San Martin I restarted the business in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy retail stores. I always said that my husband made the bread and I made the gravy.”
Her“ gravy” is well known throughout Santa Clara County’ s business community, as well as in thousands of Bay Area homes. Over time Susan expanded her window painting talent into wall murals and faux painting. In the last few years she’ s worked at Gilroy Gardens as the resident artist painting everything from murals, windows and signs, to detailed restoration on the carousel horses. Her dream of someday pursuing fine art and showing her work in galleries continued to haunt her, however.
With the opening of the new Art in the Park Gallery at Gilroy Gardens, Susan’ s dream resurfaced.“ For most of my life, for everything I created, I knew I would get paid. Now
that I am sixty-six years old, I think it is about time I paint what I want to paint and not worry about getting paid.”
With images floating through her mind of children on carousel horses, summer landscapes, wild flowers and grasses waving in the breeze, Susan has once again taken up her art supplies to step out in a new direction seeking to fulfill her lifelong desire. Now after more than fifty years it looks like her dream of becoming a fine artist is finally coming true.
Gilroy Gardens Art in the Park Program
In an effort to support the arts, Gilroy Gardens recently redesigned their gift shop to include a fine art gallery known as Art in the Park. The program will feature fine art for sale created by artists who participate in the program.
• Located inside Red Barn Gifts.
• Now open and available for display of“ Art in the Park” creation.
• All art created inside Gilroy Gardens or art related to Gilroy Gardens will be considered for exhibition in the gallery.
• The month of June will feature Photography Art taken by the Morgan Hill Photography Club and Wire Tree Sculptures by Earnest Brooks.
For more information contact:( 408) 840-7130 or ArtInThePark @ GilroyGardens. org Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park, 3050 Hecker Pass Hwy, Gilroy, CA 95020
Laura Wrede is a Gilroy freelance writer, artist, and photographer. Her award winning art and photography are shown at various online venues, galleries, and exhibits and held in private collections throughout the USA, Canada, and the UK. Her new book, My Ocean, will release this summer, 2013.
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