Susan Johnston, Wesley College 1st Lady, Shows Art at DSU

The Delaware State University Art Center/Gallery is currently exhibiting a show of watercolor works entitled “Chapters, Then and Now” by Dover artist Susan Johnston, the first lady of Wesley College.

The exhibition – which will be on display until Sept. 12 – as well as a Sept. 4 reception are both free and open for the public to attend. The Art/Center Gallery is located inside the entrance of the William C. Jason Library on campus.

A Meet the Artist reception will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4 in the Art Center/Gallery.

Mrs. Johnston, who is the wife of Wesley College President William N. Johnston, has been an artist since her childhood. The exhibition of 28 works – which were created from 1986 to present – represents various topics of exploration during her artistic journey.

“Chapters are to a book as a series is to an artist’s body of work,” Mrs. Johnston said. “The books and chapters, as a metaphor, also become their own story rather than the pages that house their original purpose.”

The artist describes each one of the series she has done as a problem to explore rather than solve.

“Each show reveals my reverence for the mysteries of nature, but also the beauty of familiar places and things,” Mrs. Johnston said. “Each series is a chapter in my own life.”

Mrs. Johnston said watercolors have appealed to her throughout her life as an artist, and notes that the medium demands drawing and practice. “Poets claim to write for months in order for one poem to emerge,” she said. “A painter must be willing to do the same.”

Susan S. Johnston is one of three artists based at Parke Green Galleries located at 327 and 331 S. State Street in Dover. The gallery – which is a historically significant landmark site where Delaware was the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1787 – is open to the public and features original paintings, prints and artistic gifts.