""I get inspiration from the blank canvas-expression of inner-most feelings, freedom of movement, emerging shades, connecting space and color. Negative spaces speak and my ideas come from travel, faces, nature, and the creations of Man. The excitement I feel waiting to start a canvas is beyond description."
At a ceremony in Florence, Italy, Susan Nomberg McCollough, was honored as 2017’s “Artist of the Year” and one of the “Top 60 Contemporary Masters” by the world’s most widely circulated art publication–Art Tour International.
She was born in Bronx, New York and lived in Dothan, Alabama from the age of six until graduation from Dothan High School.
She received her B.S. in Theater and Art from The University of Alabama studying with Alvin C. Sella, Frank Engel, and later continued to study with many accomplished artists and teachers, including Max Hellman (Birmingham Museum of Art), Professor Gary Sussman (Students Arts League of New York, Vytlacil Campus-sculpture) and Sonia De Franceschi (Accademia D’Arte in Florence, Italy) where she engaged in the Old Masters technique of painting and gold leafing.
McCollough has produced numerous paintings, many on commission, and has exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions across 4 continents.
The University of Alabama commissioned her to create a painting to honor her late professor and life-long mentor, Al Sella. The painting is an impressionistic portrait of the iconic artist and his emblematic bicycle. This large portrait now hangs in the art building, Clark Hall, and it is slated to do so in perpetuity.
Susan served on the Art Committee at the United States Sports Academy for more than 10 years. The USSA attracts and honors artists from around the world and is solely responsible for selecting featured artists for the Olympics. She now serves not only on the committee as Artist Emeritus but also on the Academy’s Board of Trustees.
McCollough paints primarily on large canvases, sometimes working on as many as three or four paintings at a time. Her works are Abstract Expressionism with a freedom of movement and vibrant, or sometimes, monochromatic colors. She sculpts using water-based clay as well as paints in oils and acrylics, as well as in charcoal and ink, pastels, watercolor and mixed media.
Susan received her B.S. in Theater and Art from The University of Alabama studying with Alvin C. Sella, Frank Engel, and later continued to study with many accomplished artists and teachers, including Max Hellman (Birmingham Museum of Art), Professor Gary Sussman (Students Arts League of New York, Vytlacil Campus-sculpture) and Sonia De Franceschi (Accademia D’Arte in Florence, Italy) where she engaged in the Old Masters technique of painting and gold leafing.
