Susan Mayfield is an artist known for her color- and light-filled pastel and oil paintings of the landscape of the Southeast and Southwest. She is a native of South Carolina and spent most of her life in the Charleston area until 2008, when she and her husband, Lee Hunnicutt, moved to Salida, where she paints in a studio with a view of the Collegiate Peaks towering over the Arkansas River Valley.
Mayfield graduated with Honors in Fine Arts from the College of Charleston, and spent many years painting the rivers and swamps of the Lowcountry of the Carolinas and teaching workshops and classes throughout the Southeast. Her pastels and oils have been exhibited in galleries such as the Wells Gallery in Charleston, SC; the Red Piano Gallery, Hilton Head, SC; City Gallery in Greenville, NC; the Joyce Robins Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, among others. Her paintings have been chosen for the Art in Embassies program with the US State Department, and she has participated in many group and solo art shows throughout her career.
In her recent paintings, Mayfield says she finds constant inspiration in her Colorado surroundings, from the back alleys of Salida to the monumental power and beauty of the Collegiate Peaks against the big Colorado sky. The theme of water is of particular interest as subject matter to Mayfield, and is especially meaningful as a new resident of the Southwest; she paints the waterfalls, creeks and rivers not only for their physical beauty, but as a precious commodity and resource, and as the powerful forces that have carved out the scenic landscape here. In 2012, Mayfield exhibited her paintings of nearby Browns Canyon to help create awareness of the need for permanent protection of this unique area. She currently serves on the board of Friends of Browns Canyon, and hopes that the area soon becomes a National Monument.
Mayfield is excited to announce her partnership with another Salida artist, Steve Smalzel, in the Smalzel-Mayfield Gallery, set to open in April 2013 in downtown Salida, at 123 N. F Street. Mayfield’s paintings can also be seen at Stoneheart Gallery in Evergreen, Colorado, at Bay St. Gallery in Beaufort, SC, and on her website, www.susanmayfield.net.
