Susan Barocas

Susan Barocas’s work has been inspired by the work of Henry Hensche, teacher at the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, Ma. She has been fortunate enough to work with Hilda Neily, Hensche’s student of many years. Following the traditions set down by Hensche, Susan’s work is impressionistic and her paintings evolve from color masses, with particular attention paid to how contiguous colors affect one another and how reflected light plays with our senses as we view the scene. All of her landscapes, done in oil, are with a palette knife. She paints beautiful places such as the Oxbow, the Meadows, and old neighborhoods. Her paintings reflect the season, the time of day, the moment. Portrait work is done with the same attention to light and shadow noting how adjacent colors affect one another.

Barocas was born and raised in Northern New Jersey where she began her teaching career in science. Enjoying the arts as a child, she was guided and encouraged by a great-uncle, Franz Alberda, an artist living in Holland. After relocating to Massachusetts, she settled in Northampton, married, raised a family, and taught mathematics at Northampton High School for 22 years. Now, upon retirement, she is focusing her energy on her art, taking classes and developing her skills. Susan enjoys sharing her vision of our surroundings with friends, old and new.

Although Susan has worked in watercolors and pastels most of her life, it is only recently that she has enjoyed painting landscapes in oils. In this short amount of time, Barocas has been fortunate enough to exhibit her work at the Hosmer Gallery in Northampton and Nashawannuck Gallery in Easthampton. More recently, she has begun study of the portrait with Cedric and Joanette Egeli, also former students of Henry Hensche.