Featured Artist of the month
Each month we feature one artist from our Community Artists page here on our website, in our monthly newsletter, on Instagram, and on Facebook. We will also host an artist’s talk with them over Zoom so our audience can get to know them better. Check back at the beginning of each month for a new artist to learn about. And view artists from past months here.
October/November 2025: Susan Crapo
We are honored to posthumously present Susan Crapo as our Featured Artist of October/November 2025. Read on to learn about Susan’s life and to see a selection of her artwork. And mark your calendar for an artist’s talk on Zoom with Susan’s sister Trish Crapo on Thursday, October 23rd at 1:00 PM Eastern Time. Click here to register ahead of time on Zoom.
Announcing the Susan Crapo Memorial Scholarship Fund
We are honored to announce the new Susan Crapo Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Leo Marchutz School of Painting & Drawing. Through a combination of sales of Susan's artwork, organized by her sister Trish Crapo, and generous donations by the LMSP&D community, this scholarship will support women of all ages and backgrounds in attending programs and workshops at the LMSP&D.
Susan attended the Leo Marchutz School of Painting & Drawing for the year-long program in 1979–1980, and returned in 1981 for the summer session. The school was pivotal for her, as it is not only where she learned to paint, but where she committed to the work of being an artist. Many lifelong friendships were forged there as well. Throughout her life, Susan worked seriously and enthusiastically in charcoal, graphite, oil pastel, watercolor, gouache and oils. She often said that she returned to drawing when things got hard. Susan was drawing right up until her final days, sketching the flowers on her bedside table and the friends who came to see her.
To view works by Susan, please visit her website (www.susancrapoartist.com). To inquire about purchasing a particular piece by Susan (with proceeds going to the Susan Crapo Memorial Scholarship Fund), please reach out to Trish Crapo at tcrapo@mac.com.
To donate directly to the scholarship fund, please follow this link: Donate to the Leo Marchutz School of Painting & Drawing.
SUSAN CRAPO
November 9, 1955 – November 5, 2008
Susan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but grew up in Miami, Florida, a place that remained deeply important to her. She began to draw in high school, taking instruction in Miami first from Gigi Aramesco, and then from Roberto Martinez. Susan continued to study art at The Museum School in Boston, Swain School of Design in New Bedford, MA, and the Leo Marchutz School of Drawing and Painting in Aix-en-Provence, France. She attended the LMSP&D for a year-long program, 1979–1980, and returned in 1981 for a summer session. The Leo Marchutz School of Painting & Drawing was pivotal for her, as it is not only where she learned to paint, but where she committed to the work of being an artist. Many lifelong friendships were forged there as well.
In 1997, her son, Joe Connelly, was born, and Susan lived for many years in Greenfield, MA, raising Joe and working as a freelance transcriptionist, work she regarded proudly. One of the projects that meant the most to her was transcribing interviews with the Tuskegee Airmen, part of an oral history commissioned by the National Park Service.
Self-employed, Susan was able to take her work in the summers to a house on Lake Huron in Michigan that had been in her family for over a hundred years. Here she could divide her time between the transcription work and her art. The changing moods of the lake and the nearby wide beet, bean, and hay fields inspired her for decades. She also lived and worked for shorter spells in Santa Barbara, CA, and in New Mexico.
Throughout her life, Susan worked seriously and enthusiastically in charcoal, graphite, oil pastel, watercolor, gouache and oils. She often said that she returned to drawing when things got hard. Susan was drawing right up until her final days, sketching the flowers on her bedside table and the friends who came to see her.
Selected Work
Artist’s Talk on Zoom
Mark your calendar for an artist’s talk on Zoom with Susan’s sister Trish Crapo on Thursday, October 23rd at 1:00 PM Eastern Time. Click here to register ahead of time on Zoom.
Website
Previous Featured Artists
To view featured artists from past months, click here.
September 2025: Jennifer Warren
August 2025: Karen Silve
June/July 2025: Mary Hamilton
May 2025: Kayla Noble
April 2025: Michèle Hénot Gasparach
March 2025: Ciara Ruddock
February 2025: Barry Hart
December 2024/January 2025: Alan Roberts
November 2024: Ben Haggard
October 2024: Amelia Myre
September 2024: Becky Hagenston
August 2024: Paul Umbarger
June/July 2024: Featured Exhibition in Aix-en-Provence
May 2024: Sharon Rawlins
April 2024: Kate Butler
March 2024: Pauline Bétrancourt
February 2024: Jenna Grotelueschen
January 2024: Mary Leone Duffy
December 2023: Elizabeth Ivers
November 2023: Cole Carothers
October 2023: Grace Darden
September 2023: King David
August 2023: Chris Coffey
July 2023: Jim Toub
June 2023: Jennifer Neel
May 2023: Jan Brogan
April 2023: Sophia Hall
March 2023: Lucy Clare Spooner
February 2023: Samantha Van Heest
December 2022: Hilary Stein
November 2022: Nick Cruz Velleman
October 2022: Miranda Blas
September 2022: Samuel Bjorklund