Our inspiration comes from
the beautiful Horses
that are actually IN class at all times!
(pats are encouraged)
This is the perfect class
for the closet artist who says:

"I love Art and Horses,
but I can’t draw a stick figure."

HOUSING: Students are invited to stay together with your class at the SAGEBRUSH INN. Six nights lodging including breakfast. $605 single. $460 double. (Doubles are contingent upon finding a roommate within your class.) These housing arrangements are paid directly to the school and are part of your tuition invoice. Check-in Sunday 6/21; Check-out Saturday 6/27. A meet-and-greet will be held, with your instructor, at the hotel Sunday evening at 6 PM.

This course is for the complete novice who feels as if there is an irrepressible image of a horse inside, waiting to come out on paper or canvas. OK, so maybe you were a horse till you were twelve !

Or perhaps you don’t even know when it started; but you’ve always had a passion for anything equine: You especially loved images of the horse, collected books, and doodled a bit. If this sounds familiar, then we have designed a workshop especially for you.

Sample Exercise

We'll start with simple gestures to get you going, then move on to specific exercises to help you learn how to capture the complex shape that is a horse. A favorite exercise is the actual 'drawing-on-the-horse.' Yes, our patient white Arab shown above, lets us draw all the bones directly on him with a washable marker. He is then lunged so students can really get a sense of how a horse is hinged together.

You can even go for a ride on a rental horse in our beautiful mountains at the end of the day. This is a heavenly vacation.

This class is limited to 10 participants in order to ensure lots of individual attention.

Students participate in the
‘drawing-of-the-bones’ to help us
understand how a horse is put together.

Artist Suzanne Betz captures viewers with powerful arresting images, then gently melts them into the reassuring luminous eyes of the equines she loves and paints.

A lifetime painter, Betz lived, worked, and exhibited her paintings across the U.S. from a base in Hawaii for 30 years. Finding her work in public, private and corporate collections world-wide, Betz could have lived anywhere, but ultimately chose Taos as her place of freedom in which to paint.

The artist arrived in Taos with a sophisticated palette, a mature range, and an unbiased eye for Taos' charmed color, space, and light. She also arrived with a dream that she'd had since childhood - that of a having a horse. She acquired "Mister," a wonderful retired polo pony, and fulfilled that dream. Betz rides or exercises Mister every day, in between long daily sessions of painting.

"I grew up in a military family, and moving all the time simply prohibited having a horse," said Betz. "My older work reflects this separation; figures and horses were often portrayed, but separately. Now, since acquiring Mister, the two are often joined. There are new relationships reflected in my work."

Originally from Washington D.C., Betz began her painting career studying at the Corcoran School of Art, and later at the University of Hawaii, and has received numerous awards for her work through the years.

At one point in her career many tried to label her as a colorist, but Betz's work goes far beyond such a label, and is much more diverse than any single description can capture. Often taking weeks to finish multi-layered works that reflect the contrasts of lightness, transparency, weight and depth, her body of work defies categories. If there is any consistent theme in her work, it is that of selecting content wisely from all that Northern New Mexico, and her ever-evolving life, have to offer. As an artist, Betz translates a radiant spirit that requires our attention, gives to us willingly, and then lets us go.

http://www.suzannebetzart.com/

http://www.suzannebetzart.com/equines.htm

Current Gallery Representation

• Grimshaw Fine Art Taos, New Mexico www. grimshawfineart.com
• Alexandra Stevens Gallery Santa Fe, New Mexico www.alexandrastevens.com
• Fine Art Associates Honolulu, Hawaii www.fineartassociates.com
• Cedar Street Galleries Honolulu, Hawaii www.cedarstreetgalleries.com
• Wilde Meyer Gallery Scottsdale, Arizona www.wildemeyer.com
• Patricia Cameron Fine Art Seattle, Washington www.patriciacamerongallery.com
• B. Douglas Fine Art Austin, Texas antiquesbdouglas@yahoo.com

Selected Exhibitions

• One Person Exhibition, Gallery A, Taos, NM, 2006
• One Person Exhibition, Gallery A, Taos, NM, 2005
• Two Person Exhibition, Gallery A, Taos, NM, 2004
• One Person Exhibition, Patricia Cameron Fine Art, Seattle, WA, 2004
• One Person Exhibition, Dearing Galleries, Taos, NM, 2001
• Taos Invites Taos, NM 1998 - 2006
• One Person Exhibition, Dearing Galleries, Taos, NM, 1999
• Best of Show, Las Vegas, NM, Arts Council Annual, 1998
• Texas National, Stephen F. Austin State University, 1998
• Museum of the Horse, Ruidoso, NM, Exhibition Award, 1997
• One Person Exhibition, Dearing Galleries, Taos, NM, 1997
• Animal Art Invitational, Waxlander Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, 1996
• Three Person Exhibition, Rice & Falkenberg Gallery, Palm Beach, FL, 1996
• One Person Exhibition, Dearing Galleries, Taos, NM, 1995
• Contemporary Museum Cafe, Honolulu, HI, 1995
• Two Person Exhibition, Rice and Falkenberg Gallery, Palm Beach, FL, 1995
• Artist's Postcards II, National Juried Exhibition, Dearing Galleries, Taos, NM, 1995
• National Museum Touring Exhibition, "Memories, Milestones & Miracles", 1993-1995
• Artist's of Hawaii, Honolulu Academy of Arts, HI, 1981-1993