Susan’s introduction to the complexity of the world began in 1963. As a sophomore in college, she attended at the first experimental “University of the Seven Seas” (U7S); four months traveling through Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, with famous professors from all over the world, welcomed by heads of government, the pope, the prime minister of Malaysia, and more.
She says, “It was a voyage that changed my life.” Students were required to study European and Asian history and languages, and then chose courses aligned with their interests, which for Susan included philosophy, comparative religions, art and architecture, and the sociology of family structure. As a pre-med students she was included to field trips to hospital, slums, orphanages, and humanitarian projects. It left her with severe culture shock upon returning home, and a search for meaning. One day she asked her father, a physicist who had headed a lab at the Manhattan Project in Oakridge, Tennessee’s during WWII, “What is the meaning of life?”
His response, “If I can help life be better for one person each day, my life is worth living.” She still thinks of this often.
In graduate school in philosophy her first child began attending an AMI Montessori school in San Francisco that opened the door to a way to help the world. Susan has not looked back. She hopes that the words shared in her books, while consulting and speaking, and in this blog, help at least one person each day.
One of her favorite quotes of Montessori:
I live in heaven. My home is a sphere that travels around the sun.
It is called ‘Earth’.
Above is a screen shot of just some of Susan’s art. An artist since the early years, Susan painted commissions of children’s portraits for many years, and then began expressing much of her international Montessori work explorations in several countries through art.
Today she paints to manage emotions dealing with a complex world. The paintings are sometimes created from sketches following a dream. Her paintings and prints hang in homes, schools, offices, around the world, including the AMI headquarters in Amsterdam. She paints . . .
“To make the world a more beautiful place,
at least as much as I can do here in my studio.”
For information on her art see the page. MAIN ART PAGE
To order prints or cards ago to her international site: INTERNATIONAL ART ORDERS