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Susan Durkee


“THE ART OF PORTRAITURE IS MY LIFE LONG COMMITMENT.  I SEE EACH NEW PORTRAIT COMMISSION AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO RECORD FOR POSTERITY THE UNIQUE SPIRIT OF AN INDIVIDUAL, NOT ONLY FOR THE FAMILY, BUT FOR GENERATIONS TO COME. A PORTRAIT IS A TIMELESS EXPRESSION OF LOVE AND HONOR.”

An award-winning artist, Susan Boone Durkee works out of her Redding, Connecticut studio, The Lobster Pot, so named by Mark Twain who owned the property at the turn of the century. Susan graduated from Greens Farms Academy, attended one year at the School of Fine Arts at Boston University, and received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Vermont. Primarily self-trained, Susan has been painting commissioned portraiture for over 25 years and her work is displayed in  many private and corporate collections throughout the country.

Susan has been featured on four Cable Television Shows, and appeared in: Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine,  Fairfield County Times, the Artist’s Magazine, MSNBC Connecticut News, The News-Times, Signature Magazine, Ridgefield Magazine, as well as the  featured portrait artist in the spring 2004 National Geographic article on Greenwich, Connecticut. In November 2010, Susan was interviewed by National Public Radio (NPR) to talk about her portraiture and her connection to Mark Twain.

She has exhibited in many major national and international Juried Shows including: The 19th Annual  National Oil Painters of America Show, American Women Artists National  Show, The National Art Museum of Sport Annual International Commitment to Excellence in Art and Sport, and the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Annual Exhibition. She won the top 2011 Founders Award from National Art Museum of Sport International Show and top  awards in The Connecticut Portrait Society’s  Annual Juried Show, the Salmagundi Club 2010 President’s Award of Excellence,  and the 2011 top Margery Soroka Memorial Award.  In 2013, Susan was awarded the Colonel George J. Moralis Award at the 117th Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Exhibition.

Susan specializes in traditional style portraiture. Since 1978, she has been commissioned to paint individual, civic, and corporate portraits.  Her past corporate collections include:

U.S. Tobacco, The Cancer Research Institute, Wellesley College, the Mark Twain House, Baylor University Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University, Southern Methodist University,  The Players Club, New York, Greens Farms Academy. Standard Oil of Ct., The Mark Twain Library,  Paul Newman’s Hole in The Wall Gang Camp, Lucille Lortel Foundation, Westport Library, Post University  and the former President of Phillips Medical.

Memberships: Portrait Society of America, Connecticut Society Portrait Artists, Salmagundi Club, Artists Fellowship, N.Y, Oil Painters of America, Catherine Lorillard Wolfe, and Colonial Dames of America of Connecticut.