Paintings by Merrill resident Susan Nelson Van Sleet, artist and published author of “Mary & Me Beyond the Canvas; An Extraordinary Story of Adoption, Loss & Reunion,” will be on display at TB Scott Library during the month of August. Signed copies of her book will be available at a Meet & Greet in the Carnegie Room from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on the Aug. 14.
Susan attended Holy Cross High School, in Merrill from 1962-1966, where she received formal art instruction from Sister Mary Hilda. Following high school, and in addition to art courses taken at Edgewood College in Madison, Susan studied under the mastery of Dick Dahl, UW Marathon Campus in Wausau where she quickly honed her skill for figure drawing. In the late sixties and early seventies, Susan experimented with modern art using mixed media techniques but preferred realistic oil painting. While a resident of Wisconsin Rapids and Antigo she taught painting classes and exhibited her work throughout the state.
In 1993, Susan took a break from creating on canvas after meeting the daughter she had secretly placed through closed adoption 27 years earlier. Following that epic mother-daughter reunion, the author wrote her memoir, which validates using art as therapy.
Included in the display will be three original artworks as cited in the book, her current collection of botanical, landscape and bird paintings along with five recent portraits.