Susan Schwake is a multifaceted artist, art educator, author, and arts advocate based on the Seacoast of New Hampshire. Her artistic practice explores the role of color in enhancing and highlighting details, blending reality and dreams through paintings that feature both specific and composite locations rendered in unexpected color and form. Susan’s work captures nature, decay, relationships, and the mundane, creating a vibrant dialogue between the ordinary and the fantastical.
With over 20 years of experience, Susan has passionately taught art across various settings, including private and public schools, museums, libraries, community organizations, and summer camps. She has also taught at Plymouth State University and operates her own art school, artstream, in Rollinsford, NH. Susan extends her teaching through online e-courses in painting, printmaking, and mixed media.
As an author, Susan Schwake has written six influential books on creating art with children and adults. Her bestselling Art Lab for Kids series, published by Quarto Publishing, includes titles like Art Lab for Little Kids, 3-D Art Lab, and Art Lab for Kids: Express Yourself. Her recent release, Be an Artist Every Day, offers 365 daily art activities. Her books have been translated into nine languages, reaching a global audience.
Susan’s dedication to promoting the arts is evident in her curatorial work, having curated over 100 exhibitions at artstream gallery, as well as for corporate art clients. She was instrumental in establishing the City Arts Commission in Rochester, NH, and founded Art Esprit, a local artist non-profit organization, where she served as the first president and organized events and public art exhibitions. Susan has also volunteered for the Rochester Opera House and serves on the advisory board of the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts.
