SUSAN MAYFIELD
SUSAN MAYFIELD is an award-winning artist known for her use of color and light in her pastel and oils. She was raised in the semi-tropical Lowcountry of South Carolina, a watery landscape dominated by rivers, creeks and marshes, where she lived until moving to Salida, Colorado in 2007. Salida is a gem of a historic small town, with diverse geography-high mountain desert, rocky canyon walls where the Arkansas River has carved its path, and alpine terrain in the 14,000 ft mountains that surround the valley, where Mayfield finds endless inspiration for her work. Her travels take her back often to the Southeast where she teaches workshops and paints plein air and touches base with her roots.
After graduating with honors and receiving the Outstanding Fine Arts Student Award from the College of Charleston, Mayfield continued her studies with prominent artists from around the country. Her career has included solo and group exhibits in galleries such as the Wells Gallery and the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, SC, the Joyce Robins Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, The Red Piano Gallery in Hilton Head, City Art Gallery in Greenville, NC, among many others. Her paintings have been chosen for the Art in Embassies Program, and her work is included in many corporate and private collections. She, along with artist Stephen Smalzel, opened the Smalzel Mayfield Art Gallery in 2012 in Salida, Colorado.
Recent awards include the 2019 Best in Show award at South Park Plein Air Festival, Best in Show and Southwest Magazine Award at the 2018 Mile High Pastel Society of Colorado National Exhibition, the Quick Draw Award at the 2018 Central City Colorado Plein Air Festival, Quick Draw Award at the 2017 Red Rocks Plein Air Festival in Moab, Utah, the Elizabeth Mowry Poetic Landscape Award at the 2017 Mile High Colorado Pastel Society Exhibition, “People’s Choice” and “Quick Draw” Award at the 2016 South Park Plein Air Festival. In 2015 she won the Best In Show award at the South Park Plein Air Festival, and she continues to participate in plein air events around the country. In addition to her painting, she teaches ongoing art classes and workshops in her studio and around the country. Mayfield is a Signature Member of Pastel Society of Colorado, and an associate member of Pastel Society of America.
Mayfield explores and interprets the landscape, wherever she finds herself. Her work has focused on the incredible wild places in and around the canyon country of the Southwest with particular emphasis on the rivers that carved them. Mayfield is inspired by her time spent hiking, camping, painting plein air, and roaming around in Colorado and throughout the Southwest. She served as a board member of the Friends of Browns Canyon during the time Browns Canyon was designated as a National Monument, and is an active proponent and fan of public lands. Susan’s partner in life is her husband, Lee Hunnicutt, with whom she lives and travels with in search of art and the next adventure.
