User:Susanripleykeippel1

Susan Ripley Keippel grew up in Tucson and is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a minor degree in Art. Art has always been Susan’s passion; but she chose to major in English literature which was a good thing because she met Ron, her future husband, when they were in the second semester of a Survey of English Literature course. She has a family of three grown children whose marriages to wonderful spouses have blessed her with an ever delightful growing family and several amazing and precious grandchildren who fill her life now with much joy. Susan’s love of art began as a child watching her mother ‘Juhlin R.’ at work. “When mom was behind the easel, all was well with the world” was a motto Susan adopted. Among the favorite set of memories Susan has as a young child are: watching her mother paint at home, seeing her pack up for the day to paint desertscapes as she was headed off to school, wishing she could join her mom on her plein-air outings, and going “downtown” to view exhibits at the Tucson Museum of Art with her mother who was a docent there as well. Susan attended studio classes at age 11 with her mother when she studied with John Law Walker, now known as one of Tucson’s Early Modern artists along with Juhlin (Julie), Susan’s mother. It was at this time that Susan’s passion for creativity was fed and nurtured as she observed the artists in this setting and what they were learning about perspective, color, light and shadows--along with expressing these concepts in oil on their canvases. John Walker took Susan “under his wing” at that time and introduced her to wood sculpture, teaching her the three dimensional design and the skills involved with wood carving. From here Susan explored clay at the University of Arizona with Maurice Grossman and won awards at the Pima County Fair. Susan is a life-time student of art, enjoying art friends and many books on the subject of painting and color. Oil has become Susan’s chosen medium for art expression, and she has developed her own colorful style as an expressive impressionist, having been most impressed herself with the French and American Impressionist models.