Suzanne Lee Chetwood AKA Suzanne DeSoleil is a contemporary artist whose amiable, vibrant paintings greet you with light and radiant color. As a very shy young girl growing up in the forests of Pennsylvania, she discovered that making art presented opportunities for her personality to shine through, offering ways to articulate her thoughts and feelings by means of line and color. Her parents nurtured her love of art—allowed her to draw all over a room in their home—and encouraged her to cultivate her creative skills. Her mom gave her step-by-step drawing pages, and at twelve her Dad set up a still life and taught her how to paint with oils. This foundation sparked a sense of well-being and freedom within her, an empowerment that accompanied her along the path toward her career and living the life of an artist. Stories from those that she encountered along the way are woven through her work, narratives of the human experience infused with the vibrancy and mysterious beauty of the natural world. With a penchant for colorful landscapes, she captures and interprets the kind of free-flowing, joyful moments where you can see light in everything. Chetwood studied fine art on full scholarship at the Pennsylvania Governor's School of Arts at Mercyhurst University, studied ceramics with Jack Troy at Juniata College, and then moved to Boise, Idaho where she received a BFA in painting and ceramics with a K-12 teaching certificate from Boise State University in 1999. She has attended multiple professional practice workshops and academies. Her work has traveled to international shows and exhibitions as well as museum exhibitions.
Curriculum Vitae
Suzanne Lee Chetwood
(208) 433-0220
suzlee22@hotmail.com
SELECT AWARDS/PUBLIC ART_______________________________________________
2019 Public Art Traffic Box Mural – Boise City Department of Arts and History Boise, Idaho. corner of 11th and Grove.
2018 Public Art Traffic Box Mural – Boise City Department of Arts and History Boise, Idaho. corner of Main and Whitewater.
2017 Savor Idaho Invitational - Eagle Paint Out, Hosted by Finer Frames, Boise ID.
2017 Public Art Traffic Box Mural - Boise City Department of Arts and History Boise, Idaho. Corner of shoreline and Americana/City of Eagle HWY 55 and Hill road
2016 Featured Artist - Idaho The Moive 2 Emmy Award-winning film.
2016 Art n Sip - Featured Artist Meridian Arts Foundation, Meridian, Idaho.
2016 Meridian Public Art Traffic Box Mural - Meridian, Idaho.
2015 MAC Artist Traffic Box - Meridian, Idaho.
2015 People Choice Award - Eagle Paint Out, Hosted by Finer Frames, Eagle ID.
2013 Public Art Traffic Box Mural - Boise City Department of Arts and History Boise, Idaho. Corner of Franklin and Allumbaugh.
2013 Public Art Finalist- Boise Airport Ticketing Mural to commemorate Boise's sesquicentennial.
2010 Artist In Residence- Boise City Department of Arts and History, (double) 4 month residency, Boise, Idaho.
1992 Pennsylvania Governors School of Excellence for the Arts-Erie, Pennsylvania. Full art and residential scholarship summer institute.
SELECT EXHIBITIONS__________________________________________________
SOLO
2023 “Of Sun” Visual Arts Collective Garden City, Idaho
2022 “Contemporary Goddess” Sunshine Spice Cafe, Boise, Idaho.
2022 “Suzannescapes” Peaceful Belly, Caldwell, Idaho.
2018 "Portrait and Lens" Evermore Gallery Boise, Idaho.
2017 "Place and Environment" Upcycle Boise, Idaho.
2016 "Reflections: Cheers, Toasts, and Odes" The Mode Boise, Idaho.
2016 "Un petit vacances" The Gallery at Finer Frames, Eagle, Idaho.
2014 "Idaho, The Other Side of the Fence" Initial Point Gallery, Meridian, ID.
2013 "Traces of Wheat" Solid Gallery, Boise, Idaho.
2009 "Painting Rock and Drainage" The Loft Gallery, Hailey, Idaho.
2008 "Of The Earth" The Basement Gallery, Boise, Idaho.
2006 "Love Affair with Idaho" The Artisan Gallery, Eagle, Idaho.
2000 "The Clay Canvas Box" Picture This Gallery, Boise Idaho.
1995 "Emergence" Huntingdon Historical Society Gallery, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
GROUP
2023 “Heaven on Earth” Initial Point Gallery Meridian, Idaho
2023 “Wild Women” Finer Frames Gallery Eagle, Idaho. 2019 "Contemporary 2019: Contemporary Figure" The Art Center Western Colorado Center For the Arts, Grand Junction, Colorado. Juror: Ron Hicks.
2019 "Menagerie-Wild and Wonderful" The Contemporary Art Exchange, Washington North Carolina.
2019 "Persistence: A National Exhibition Celebrating Women" D'Art Center, Norfolk, Virgina. (invited) Jurror: Lori Pratico.
2019 "Paying Tribute to the Muse" Vanessa Lacy Gallery, Kansas City Missouri.
2019 Zion’s Bank Artist Reception, Featured Cover Artist Boise, Idaho
2018 Idaho Hopes, Gem Center for the Arts, Boise, Idaho
2018 32 Cells: Origins, Old Idaho Penitentiary, Boise, Idaho
2017 Eagle Plein Air Festival, Eagle, Idaho
2017 Zion's Bank Aritst Reception, Boise, Idaho
2016 Zion's Bank Artist Reception, Boise, Idaho
2015 "Healing Arts" The Gallery at Finer Frames, Eagle, Idaho. Juror: Meg Glasgow.
2014 "The Northwest Experience" The Clymer Museum, Ellensburg, WA. Jurors: Michael J. Lewis/Gregg Schlanger.
2014 "Idaho, The Other Side of the Fence" Initial Point Gallery, Meridian, Idaho. Juror: Dwight Williams.
2010 "Kiss Me" Pop Revolution Gallery, Mason, Ohio. Juror: Pattie Byron
2009 "Figures" The Gallery at Hyde Park, Boise, Idaho.
2005 "Crafts National 39" Zoller Gallery, State College, Pennsylvania. Juror: Jean McLaughlin.
2005 "BOSCO " Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho.
2002 "Alumni Show" Boise State University, Boise, Idaho.
1992 "Student Exhibition" Juniata College Museum of Art, Huntingdon, PA.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY___________________________________________________
2019 Root Magazine feature "The Art in Healing"
2019 Boise Weely Cover Art
2018 Greenbelt Magazine July/Aug “We heARTsummer-Local Boise Artists”
2018 Eagle Magazine May/June Cover art.
2017 Boise Weekly Volume 25, Issue 38, March 8-14, cover art.
2015 Boise Weekly Volume 24, Issue 23, November 25-December 1, Cover art.
2013 Idaho Statesman May 15, Cover, "Boise's public art scene booms"
2005 Idaho Statesman May 10, “Neighborhood feels energy of artist’s studio”
2003 Thrive Magazine 9-23-03 “Brushing up with Suzanne Lee” (Cover and pages 28-29)
2003 Boise Weekly Volume 11, Issue 50, June 18-24, “Double Exposure”
SELECT EDUCATION_______________________________________________
2016 The Business of Art Workshop- McLean Art Projects - Surel's Place, Boise ID.
2014 Boise Public Art Academy- Boise City Department of Arts and History. Boise, Idaho.
2007 Boise State University-Professional Art Practices, Harriet Estel Burman.
2004 Albertsons College of Idaho-Arts Powered Schools Certificate, Caldwell, ID.
1999 Boise State University- BFA Ceramics and Painting, certified K-12 Idaho teaching certificate. Full 4 year artistic and academic scholarship graduating magna cum laude. Boise, Idaho.
1992 Juniata College- 2 years Ceramics Studies, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
SELECT COLLECTIONS_______________________________________________
Zion's Bank - corporate
Melting Pot Restaurant
Paradise Ford
McDonalds Headquarters, Boise, Idaho
The "Garage Gallery" 1999 had so much neighborhood traffic that I hosted sales and exhibitions. I have been in many studio spaces since then and will always have pride for my first creative space. No heat, so throwing pots with boiled water carried out to the studio in winter months toughened me up. Summer was blazing hot, Boise temp would be over 105* F and inside the brick oven garage I never dared bring a thermometer. I just sprayed myself with a water bottle that I used on paintings and pottery and blasted a small fan.
Since then I have had the luxury of heat and air conditioning and plenty of comforts. Having support from ones community is paramount to maintaining what I have to do, the bravery to be an Artist. Thank you to all that supported me over the last 22 professional years and to those of you finding me for the first time. I hope to inspire or at least bring a little sunshine your way!
May you one day find yourself on a cliff that overlooks natures beauty and in that moment be filled with complete peace. I carry this inner calm and bliss with me from the hills, mountains, rivers, and rock faces to my studio and translate what I have received into art.
I couldn't agree more with this Georgia O'Keeffe quote. "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for."
