ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607080008
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: ROANOKE
SOURCE: ANGIE WATTS STAFF WRITER
A quick glimpse of Susan Kurtz's latest impressionist paintings is all it takes to conclude that children are an enormous source of motivation in her work.
But dig a little deeper and what lies within the paintings is more than mere motivation, it's a love and concern for raising children that ultimately brought Kurtz - and her artwork - from New York City to the New River Valley.
Searching for the perfect place to raise her two children and advance her creativity, Kurtz and her husband, Jeff, traveled throughout the United States and Europe ... looking. What they found at the end of their journey was the security and beauty nestled in the hills of Southwest Virginia.
Kurtz has exhibited work at shows and galleries from New York to Los Angeles, and abroad. Her work is included in many private collections and found in the Ben Gurion Museum and Mizra Gallery in Israel. Locally she has displays at Gallery 3 in Roanoke, Matrix Gallery in Blacksburg and Encore in Radford.
Encore manager Cindy Tolbert says Kurtz is one of many artists who have chosen to move out of the big city and test the waters in a smaller market. The region is no Santa Fe - the New Mexico capital that's long been a mecca for artistic types - but it's developing an artistic reputation, and an art business, all its own.
"The funny thing is a lot of our local artists started out in bigger cities and then moved to the New River Valley," Tolbert said. "As far as selling artwork they'd make more money in the big city, and a lot of them still have displays there, but for some reason this area is attracting a lot of artists.
"I think a lot of it has to do with artists being loners and needing a lot of inspiration, and the New River Valley scenery provides that," Tolbert said.
Virginia Tech art professor Ray Kass said unlike Kurtz, the artists he's familiar with don't tend to move the area expressly, but get hooked after they're here.
"Usually it's been my experience that artists coming into this area do so for employment with one of the colleges," Kass said. "Then they tend to fall in love with the region, and although it does not have as many galleries or exhibitions opportunities, they stay because they like the area."
Known as a top female sports artist in New York, Kurtz has turned away from focusing solely on sports images, and now primarily paints children's pieces and work that renders the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She has sold approximately $5,000 worth of paintings and sketches in less than a year, and said she expects that figure to grow.
Art, after all, is art. But it is also a business to some and a way, at least in part, to make a living.
"Susan is one of our best-selling artists, and we're finding out that there really are two separate markets in the area," Tolbert said. "The first is art collectors, which is a small market, and then there are the people who want art but can't afford the high price tags. Susan has got some high-price items, but she has a lot of real affordable work, too."
Tolbert said since last August, Encore has sold approximately 20 pieces of Kurtz's work, ranging in price from $600 to $10. Tolbert explains that the items costing $10 to $20 are Canon copies, which are color prints of Kurtz's paintings.
"People buy artwork because of a past feeling they have or a memory that the art brings out," Tolbert said. "With all the scenery and landscape Susan uses, a lot of people like her work but can't afford the painting, so they order the prints instead."
One of Kurtz's favorite works is titled, "Ring Around the Rosie," portraying three children of varying ages playing in a grassy field. Painted about four years ago, Kurtz said this piece was the beginning of her new focus, which explains why the original is not for sale.
"I never did children or anything relaxing until this," Kurtz said. "It was one of the only pieces I did in New York that felt really good to me."
That was the beginning. Now Kurtz has an entire collection of pieces dedicated to children. One particular painting, "Bonding," was drawn from a photograph of her and her newborn daughter taken in the hospital room. It shows mother and daughter looking tenderly at one another, each studying the other's face. The piece sells for $110, one of her least expensive paintings.
"This is one of my most popular pieces," Kurtz said. "A few doctors have put it up in their offices, and now a lot of expectant fathers are calling me saying, 'My wife is due is a few weeks, can you draw me a sketch of that painting.' It's become a very popular gift for pregnant women."
Of her sports paintings, the most famous in titled, "Flo Jo" after the legendary American sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner. The piece is set on a track, where Flo Jo stands in uniform in front of the rest of the field. This item sells for $4,000 and is one of her most expensive paintings.
In addition to her own painting, Kurtz also teaches private art lessons in her home studio to students ranging in age from 2 to 75 years old.
"Anyone can learn. You just have to relax and have fun," Kurtz insists. "I really believe in education of the arts, and in public schools everywhere it's being lost. A lot of students that I teach, when you work through the arts with them it builds their confidence. I see such a big growth in them and that's one of the things I really enjoy."
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. Susan Kurtz is one of many artistsby CNBwho have chosen to move out of the big city and test the waters in a
smaller market like the New River Valley. color.