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 My art career began in earnest in 1999 when I retired from my position as Professor of Pastoral Theology and Care at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. I enrolled at Montgomery College and a whole new world opened up for me. Drawing, painting, printmaking, color, watercolor, and, pastel. I am grateful to teachers along the way: Joyce Jewell, Mark Rooney, Ed Ahlstrom, Kay McCrohan, David Daniels, classmate Patty Dean, Nancy Haskett, Janet Jensen, Jean Hirons, and Michaele Harrington, as well as many gifted students so willing to share their expertise.
I am a native of New Orleans, the fifth of eight children whose artist mother put her paints away when she started having babies. My father's cousin, Hattie Saussy, was an artist of note in Savannah, Georgia. My older sister, Jon Boulet, nudged me to get into painting many years ago, but the tubes of watercolors she bought for me stayed in their box until 2001. Until jubilation (i.e. retirement), my artistic ability showed up in things like calligraphy and crafts, as well as stained glass and floor cloths, but all were adventures with minimal instruction.
I spent my professional life in education and counseling, teaching at the high school, college and graduate levels. My masters' degrees are in theology and counseling; I have a doctorate in Religion and the Personality Sciences from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. In my most recent previous career, I taught seminary students courses in religion and psychology, counseling, sexuality, family systems, and aging, dying and bereavement. I authored three books, God Images and Self Esteem, The Gift of Anger: A Call to Faithful Action, and The Art of Growing Old: A Guide to Faithful Aging. Since jubilation, I have limited on-going academic work to continued study and occasional lectures on aging, a topic I love and “homework” I am doing.
My strong preference has been watercolor: I love the transparency of watercolor and its freshness and brilliance. David Daniel’s explosions of color have always been a great inspiration to me. I have also worked in pastel with excellent teachers, Janet Jensen and Jean Hirons. My new frontier is studying with water media teachers Donna Baron and Michaele Harrington, and I am exploring the wonders of digital art as well. Thank you for visiting. I would appreciate your comments. saussy@verizon.net
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