Thanks to the Internet you don’t have to travel to a beautiful, out of the way gallery in Madison, CT. to check out a new exhibit entitled Color & Luminance by David Dunlop.  The show opened on Friday, May 10 and will run through June 22, 2019.  The host gallery for this exhibit by Mr. Dunlop is Susan Powell Fine Art run by none other than Susan Powell.  Susan and her collections of art work over the years have become well known in the New York / Connecticut area.  She has a master’s eye for recognizing great talent and has promoted numerous artists, helping them establish a market for their work.

David Dunlop is a modern-day old master whose luminous paintings draw from both Renaissance techniques and contemporary science. His paintings have been shown internationally and are held in the collections of major corporations including Aetna Insurance, Citibank, Delta Airlines, GE Capital Corporation, IBM, Mobil and more.

David is the engaging host and writer of the 13-show national PBS television series, “Landscapes Through Time with David Dunlop,” for which he won an Emmy and a CINE Golden Eagle Award in 2009.

Embracing A Lifetime Passion, Susan Powell Fine Art

“I’m not an artist,” she begins almost apologetically. “I’m an appreciator.” Understatement! For over 30 years this woman has spent her life lapping up the arts, never getting enough, always seeking more, and constantly looking for what’s real and beautiful so that she might give it a home and thereby share it with others.

While most people find it so difficult to break into this field, Susan Powell’s early experience, coupled with her innate sense of pluck and good old fashioned “chutzpah,” landed her a job at The Smithsonian just days after graduating with a degree in both business and art history. “I was told there were no jobs around, but I knew I had a good education and was interested in both business and art, so I could be an asset to them.”  With 95,000 people attending lectures and symposiums at The Smithsonian yearly, Powell found a home as head of that department before moving on to the famed Doyle  Galleries in Manhattan. Founded in 1962 Doyle New York is one of the world’s foremost auctioneers and appraisers of fine art and the place that Powell set her sights on for her next place of employment. The people at Doyle were a bit reluctant at first, no doubt a bit overwhelmed by this young woman who told them resolutely that she was going to work there. So Susan offered to work the first weekend for free and show them what she had.  At the end of the successful weekend she asked for a job from William Doyle, Chairman of the Board, who must have been both struck and yet impressed by this self-assured young woman barely in her twenties. “I told him I wanted to be head of the painting department, and that I would double his sales in a year.”

She got the job, but Powell didn’t do it. She didn’t double sales. Instead, in the four and a half years she was at Doyle, she increased the figure from the previous $125,000 to 1.2 million in sales. And she was still only in her twenties when she left!

Ask Susan Powell how she learned so quickly; and she’ll reply, “I learned to discern between what is real and what is fake. The more you see, the more you know.  Plus I had a mentor who was a dealer and taught me a great deal. And then there’s experience.”

Susan Powell Fine Art is constantly bringing in both the new and captivating, as the gallery has shows that change every four to six weeks. Each is heralded by an opening reception in the intimate, well appointed garden behind the gallery that Powell herself loving attends with the help of a neighbor. Here, both the experienced lovers of art and the uninitiated, but curious, enjoy drinks and small bites before and after enjoying the show inside. 

So, all you art lovers out there, if you can get to Madison, CT. you know the place to visit.  Susan’s gallery is a spot you will always find an abundant amount of beauty and joy!