Gorge Artist Open Studio Tour: Suzanne Krol Boller

One painter participating in the tour is The Dalles resident Suzanne Krol Boller, Q&A below. A full interview is available at columbiagorgenews.com. 

Columbia Gorge News (CGN): Can you introduce yourself for the record? (Who you are, what you do, how long have you been in the Gorge?)

Boller: I’m Suzanne Krol Boller and my husband and I moved to The Dalles in the fall of 2014. He texted me a small notice from the newspaper about a juried Studio Tour happening in the spring of 2015. I applied online from New York while visiting with family. We were welcomed by both the musicians and artist communities along the Columbia River and feel it’s a Mecca for creativity. I’ve been lucky to live by Lake Michigan and Chicago, the Pacific Coastline, and now the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, giving me plenty of beautiful things to draw inspiration from.

CGN: What drew you to painting?

Boller: I was drawn to painting as a child. My mother was an artist and my father was a craftsman, both of them encouraged me to draw and paint. My first real recollection is of me fingerprinting on the floor hovering over a giant piece of paper in kindergarten. I remember the smell of the paint and the joy I felt! It was so much fun.

That was where I saw the first portrait oil painting that I really studied. It was of President Woodrow Wilson in the fifth grade at my elementary school, which was named after him. I really wanted to learn that kind of realism and how to do portraiture. What I later learned was that studying portraiture was a license to paint anything I wanted.

CGN: What do you enjoy most about it?

Boller: I think what I love most about painting is that I get lost. Time slips away when I’ve worked on a painting. It’s magical to me. My goal is to create paintings that draw people in and gives them a moment of joy, or peaceful contentment. Sometimes takes them to a memory of a place they called home. Or a place they visited with their grandchildren, or it reminds them of a special person. I love when I hear somebody say, ‘oh, I surfed that at that point,’ or, ‘my wife and I got engaged there.’ And then there’s just the active part I call mark making — putting paint on a canvas or a pencil to piece of paper. Being a painter is a way for a person with no musical or other talent whatsoever to interact with and experience creativity.

CGN: How would you describe your work?

Boller: I consider my work contemporary realism, but with a looseness. I work hard to not appear look overworked or tight. What I see in terms of value, color and shape will be what you see in my work. Of course now everyone has cell phone that take incredible photographs of people and portraits are not much in demand, so I paint still life and landscapes as well. My work is always evolving and at my studio tour you will see groupings of paintings from different periods in my life.

In 2019, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. That answered a lot of questions for me about my work. I had struggled for years with not finishing paintings that I started and now I understand it was part of my disease.

Prior to my diagnosis, I had the good fortune of studying at the private Atelier of Mohamed Drisi for several years, a master painter born in Morocco, whose fame came from painting an official portrait of Princess Grace of Monaco. Others I learned from are Jeanné Lamosse, Milford Zorne, Roger Armstrong, Mark Kerchoff, David A. Leffell, Stanka Kordic and last but not least Everett Raymond Kinstler. I think my work is reflective of all that I have learned from many of these people. They are all wonderful portrait artists and they have all been gracious with their knowledge. These days I visit several artists on YouTube, I feel there’s always something new to be aware of when I work on a painting or trying a new medium.

CGN: What is your process when you want to create a painting?

Boller: If I’m working on a portrait, I start by sketching. Using charcoal pencil I often draw a person’s face anywhere from 7-10 times before I ever think about paint. That’s to train my eye, to get used to seeing them. Commission portraits require much more planning.

When I’m sketching just for enjoyment, or to capture a moment while out listening to music, it often is simply scribbles. When I was younger, I was lucky to hear a lot of the great jazz musicians play live in Chicago and most of the time I never thought enough about it to take a sketchbook with me. I had oodles of loose sketches of these musicians on napkins. Over the years they’ve been lost due to poor storage or just being foolishly thrown away.

With landscapes, I’m always aware of my surroundings so I have certain places that I like painting. I do smaller that are finished or nearly finished, sketches. I often re-created these sketches onto a larger canvas, and am working on a few of them now for the tour.

CGN: Do things always turn out the way you expect them?

Boller: Generally, yes. But only after I’m satisfied with my work and how it’s turned out. I do subscribe to the idea that one should allow the materials to dictate somewhat what’s going to happen. Sometimes they are referred to as happy mistakes. But I will say, and I laugh when I say it, I have torn up drawings and paintings and burned a few in my lifetime. And as Martha Stewart says, “that’s a good thing.”

CGN: Do you have any favorite pieces you’ve done? Why are they your favorite?

Boller: Yes I actually do have about four or so pieces that I really love. The first two would be carbon pencil drawings while studying at the Drisi Academy. They taught me so many valuable lessons. The first is of my daughter Chanté. The other is of Candice Bergen from a photograph by Victor Skrebneski, which I got permission to copy. It will be on display this studio tour for the last time, she’s headed to New York. Another is of the portrait I did of my father, it was the most fun I believe Dad and I ever had together as adults. The fourth piece is in Anjo, Japan. It’s a Plein air painting that I did with my easel literally in the Pacific Ocean with waves crashing around me at Table Rock near Torrey Pines, California. It was the first time I knew I had nailed it when a surfer saw it hanging in my home and said, “Hey is that Table Rock? I surfed there!” That was when painting realistic landscapes became my next goal.

CGN: Are there any misconceptions out there that you would like to speak on?

Boller: Well, just that going into art as a career is not for the faint of heart. A very wise person once told me if as an artist and you can’t take criticism, you are in the wrong line of work. Also, at my age I can really say that time is so precious, to not waste a day wanting to learn something. Go out and find the very best teacher and get started. Go draw, practice brushstrokes, get your job chops down, put in time and you’ll love becoming a creative person.

CGN: What do you want people take away from your pieces?

Boller: Hopefully that people will find peace and serenity when they see my work. And if they haven’t found that, perhaps it’s impacted them in some way of importance to them, motivating them to take action. Art is the universal language of the world. I’ve laughed and cried when I’ve seen paintings and heard music that was so moving it just spoke to my heart and soul. I’ve had a few alarms go off when I reached out to tough a piece of sculpture because I couldn’t help myself to keep from doing so. And I’ve cringed over cartoons that led to violence against humanity. Art is a very powerful language. I hope people feel like I’ve used it responsibly.

CGN: What are your plans for future projects?

Boller: Completing my Old Masters With a Twist series before too very long is high on my list. I have a folder of jazz sketches that were started after realizing so many of them were thrown away. Learning about prints seems interesting, it’s another medium that speaks to me. Ther’s a beautiful press calling out my name in my garage … maybe for next year’s tour … and perhaps finding a gallery or space to have a retrospective show of my work before I “spin out.”

CGN: Is there anything you want to mention or talk about that isn’t touched on in these questions?

Boller: Well just how grateful I am to the board and dedicated people of the Gorge Artist Studio Tour. Every year it just seems to get better and better, and the artists are incredible. We’ve met so many wonderful people in the Gorge because of the tour and we’re so grateful that we can now call this place home.

Boller’s studio is located at 1416 W. 10th St., The Dalles. Find more of her work on her Facebook page, Suzanne Krol Boller Artist, and on Instagram @suzannekrolbollerart. To find out more about Boller and the other 52 participating artists, or more info and a map of this year’s tour, visit gorgeartists.org.