Short Bio
Susan Goetz Zwirn is an accomplished painter known for her evocative landscapes and figurative work, blending realism and abstraction. Inspired by her travels to Italy and India, as well as her surroundings in New York and California, her work captures a strong sense of place and mood. Her paintings have been exhibited nationally and are held in private and corporate collections here and abroad.
Statement
My paintings explore the shifting essence of landscape—how it is both seen and felt. From recognizable vistas of land and water to abstracted impressions of space, I work with a palette shaped by seasonal change and internal emotional landscapes.I often merge multiple perspectives on a single canvas: the view from solid ground, the sensation of soaring through the air, or the imagined vantage point of looking at Earth from space. These shifts in viewpoint allow me to play with spatial perception and invite new ways of seeing the world.Each painting begins with thin, poured layers of paint. Over time, the surface becomes dense and textured—built up slowly on heavy-duty canvas and wooden stretchers I construct myself. These sturdy foundations support the years a single painting may take to complete.
Biography
Susan Goetz Zwirn is a painter whose work blends realism and abstraction, drawing inspiration from landscapes and people encountered through both travel and daily life. Her paintings reflect a deep sense of place and emotion, shaped by time spent in Italy, India, New York, and now California.Working out of her studio at the Novato Arts Center, Susan continues to paint, exhibit, and share her love of art through workshops, artist talks, and community events. She also contributes to the arts through jurying and consulting, in NY and CA. She currently offers painting workshops in groups or individuals. Her work has been exhibited in galleries, juried shows, and museums, and is included in both private and public collections in the U.S. and abroad.After two decades as a professor and director of arts education, Susan is now fully dedicated to her studio practice—bringing her research on the artist/educator full circle. Her writing has been published in over 15 journal articles and she has been honored to make over 50 presentations to artists, administrators, educators and the the general public. Full CV available upon request.
Resume / CV
website: susangzwirnartist.com
Tiburon, CA., 94920
EDUCATION
EdD Columbia University 2002
Distinguished Writing Award
MA Rhode Island School of Design
BA Clark University
PAINTINGS
AWARDS
Marin Society of Artists, CA, Award 2024
Marin Society of Artists, CA, Award, 2023
Hecksher Museum, NY Second Prize
Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, NY Winners Show,
Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, First Prize
Hecksher Museum, Honorable Mention
Manhasset Art Association, C.W. Post College, NY, First Prize
Manhasset Art Association, North Shore Unitarian Church, First Prize
Aesthetics ’90, National Exhibit, Kansas, Second Prize
Hutchins Gallery, C.W. Post College, NY, Best in Show
Manhasset Art Association, Great Neck House, First Prize
Manhasset Art Association, C.W. Post College, Second Prize
EXHIBITIONS
2025 Cove Gallery, The Cove, Tiburon
2025. Tiburon-Belvedere Library Juried Exhibit, CA., Artists' Narratives, spring
2025 Marin Community Foundation Art Showcase Juried Exhibit, Novato, CA
2025. Tiburon-Belvedere Library Juried Exhibit, CA., fall
2024 Marin Museum of Contemporary Art
2024 Tiburon Belvedere Library Juried Exhibit: Human Presence
2024. Marin Society of Artists, Award, On the Road
2023 Marin Society of Artists, Award
2014 Hagedorn Hall, Hofstra University
2010 Ashwag Hall, East Hampton, ‘The Usual Suspects’
2007 Hagedorn Hall, Hofstra University, Solo exhibit, Children of India, photographs
2005 Port Washington Library Gallery, Solo exhibit: Landscape Boundaries
1996 Gallery Authentique, NY
1996 Art 54 Gallery, Soho, NY
1997 Hecksher Museum, Award
1997 Winners Show, Fine Arts Museum of Long Island
1999 Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Award, 'First Prize'
1996 Port Washington Library Exhibition
1994 Artists Network of Great Neck, NY
1993 Elaine Benson Gallery, NY
1993 Artists Network of Great Neck, NY
1992 Hecksher Museum, NY
1992 Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts-NY
1992 Green Gallery, CT
1991 Gallery East, NY
1991 Sabbeth Gallery, Wunsch Arts Center, NY
1991 New York Institute of Technology, NY
1991 Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts, NY
1991 Manhasset Art Association, C.W. Post College, NY, Award
1991 Aesthetics ’90, Kansas, Award, 2nd place. National competition
1990 CW Post College, Bert Lipper Memorial Award, "Best in Show"
1990 Hecksher Museum, NY, Juried Exhibit
1990 National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylics
1991 Chelsea Mansion, Nassau County Exhibition, NY
1989 Elaine Benson Gallery, NY
1988 Hutchins Gallery, C.W. Post College, NY, Award
1988 Manhasset Art Association, Great Neck House, Award
1986 Manhasset Art Association, C.W. Post College, Award, "First Prize"
REVIEWS
Helen Harrison,
Art Critic for New York Times, Hecksher Museum
“Susan Goetz Zwirn’s Landscape Boundaries show how abstraction can push a familiar scene to the limits of recognizability. Using unnaturally intense colors and faceted forms, the painter reinterprets a tranquil harbor in imaginative terms.”
Eric Ernst
Critic and Artist, East Hampton Star
“Powerful Winter – Susan Goetz Zwirn’s painting ‘Winter’ offers a cascading cacophony of blues that are both random and ordered. There is a structure of chance evolution, as it were, that in its entirety is both quiet and evocative. The sense of cold is both palpable and powerful.”
Russell Hausman
Art Historian and Critic, professional journal
“Susan Zwirn’s impressionistic ‘Turbulent Reflections’ is a real beauty. A wooded landscape with a foreground of carefully woven strands of subtle colors ‘catch the moment’ with rare sensitivity. Lots of poetry here. The color harmonies are outstanding. This one would seem very much at home in a museum.”
Robert Carriola
Critic and Artist, professional newsletter
“ This ‘Best in Show’ award for ‘Main Street’ was based on the considerations for wholesome aesthetic order, command of tools and materials and transformation of matter into a new reality of illusion. (It) embraces excellent composition in contemporary design shapes. Integrated high key colors with subordinate repeats for cohesion, and a particularly interesting space movement which fluctuates between a 2-D and 3-D illusion, the technique and concept is noteworthy.”
Carole Paquette
Critic, Huntington Press, 35th annual LI exhibit at Hecksher Museum
"The (exhibit )includes the powerful mood piece Zwirn's 'Thoughts of Aaron.’ Blue and lavender shapes form a forest that is washed by lighter patterns which create tree trunks resembling legs."
Paintings in corporate, university and private collections, US and abroad.
