Suzanne Mitchell

Student

“It’s my dream to teach Art—Printmaking and Painting. And I would actually love to teach it at SMC.”

You might say that when last seen, Suzanne Mitchell was involved in the ‘art of expectancy.’ “Yep, I’m pregnant, and the baby is due in 19 days, so I’ll have to take a little time off. But then it’s right back to class at SMC.” With a BFA in painting, Suzanne decided to get back in the academic swing of things because of SMC’s excellent reputation in the arts. “The Mentor Program in the Arts has been extremely valuable to me because I’ve pulled together a real body of work, which I needed to do,” says Suzanne. “My mentor, John Greco, is a master printmaker, and I’ve been working intensively with him. We have great facilities, and I’m discovering how important printmaking is to my painting, and vice versa.”

Suzanne reports, “Because I want to teach, I really needed to learn printmaking as a craft. I mean, there’s so much technical knowledge you have to have in order to pass it on to others. And I’m already getting to do this at the Otis College of Art and Design, where I’m a technician.” Suzanne also says that “taking only one or two classes at a time at SMC has been a pure pleasure for me because I really enjoy my classes more when they’re free of stress. And SMC is such a wonderful environment because it’s so inexpensive that everyone is there. It’s not an elitist place: It’s a school for everybody.”

With a new baby on the way, a career in teaching Art a distinct possibility, and a mentor who cares deeply about her success and growth, Suzanne reports feeling very much at peace with herself. “Being an artist is tough—I mean, I’ll never make the big bucks… but I’ll be doing what I love, and very few people ever get to do that.”

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