ELLISVILLE 鈥揟he colorful and uniquely created artwork of Susan Chakiris Busby will be on display at the Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery on the Ellisville campus of 麻豆直播 until September 18, 2025. Her paintings 鈥減op鈥� off the wall with color because of a unique style of painting and materials used to create a dimensional image.
鈥淚 have painted in watercolors and acrylic for many years and recently began exploring the medium of cold wax and oil, both on birch panel and yupo paper in a semi realistic and impressionist style.鈥� said Busby. 鈥淭his medium allows for the layering of colors and texture whether painting in the style of impressionism or abstraction. The cold wax and oil paint method is not defined by subject matter but by experimentation, texture and layers of paint. Cold wax medium is a mixture of natural beeswax, Gamsol and Danmar resin mixed with oil paint to achieve a buttery quality usually applied with a soft silicone bowl scraper or silicon brushes.鈥�
The former Jones County art instructor and adjunct professor at the University of Southern Mississippi is a native of Pennsylvania and lived in Tempe, Arizona for several years before meeting her husband and moving to rural Mississippi. While in Arizona, the former photographer taught dark room photography at Phoenix Arts and Crafts Center, freelanced as a photographer for modeling agencies in Phoenix and worked as an assistant to a commercial photographer. She attended art classes at Arizona State University and completed her Bachelors and Master鈥檚 degrees in Art in the late 1980鈥檚 at the University of Southern Mississippi with degrees in Fine Art and Art Education.
鈥淢y vision for my paintings comes from 45 years of living a rural life in the woods which has entailed growing food, herbs and flowers and raising children and farm animals. I have also spent many years exploring the marshes and waterways of South Mississippi along the beautiful Gulf Coast and sailing to our beautiful barrier islands. My art originates from paying attention to the natural world of light, reflections, shadows, textures and colors that surround us in nature. I translate what I see in the three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional surface focusing on a more impressionistic style,鈥� said Busby.
Her life鈥檚 journey has earned her several awards and accomplishments with the latest being accepted as a member of the Mississippi Art Colony and being awarded the Becky Feder Award for Artistic Achievement. Busby has also been accepted as a member in the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. and she was accepted as a participant in the Meridian Museum of Art Annual Juried Competition for the past two years. Her work has been in the Lucile Parker Gallery and is currently a part of the Mississippi Art Colony Traveling Show. She is a board member of the Hattiesburg Arts Council and a member of the Lauren Rogers Art Museum, the Ohr O鈥橩eefe Museum and the Mississippi Museum of Art.
For more information about upcoming JC art shows or to arrange a visit to the gallery call, 601-477-8401. The Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m., and by appointment only on Fridays. The gallery is closed during the holidays. To learn more about the 麻豆直播 Art Department, /programs/finearts/ or the JC Art Department鈥檚 social media: Facebook page, and on Instagram .