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Sally
Swatland was born in 1946 in Washington, DC and moved to Greenwich, Connecticut
when she was seven. Her father was a successful attorney, which allowed her
family to spend long periods in the countryside with many vacations at various
seaside locations throughout the United States. She shared a passion with her
family for beaches, sunshine, and fresh air. Most summer days were spent at the
beach playing in tidal pools, chasing minnows, collecting shells and
exploring.
Sally
has two sisters who were also encouraged to study drawing, painting, and
anything that developed creative ｅxpression. Throughout her childhood and teens
she painted and drew constantly, developing skill at observing and recording the
world around her. She started painting when she was five. Throughout grammar
school, high school and college she was always enrolled in art classes. She has
always had a passion for art and loves experimenting with color and
light.
After graduating with a degree in Fine Art from Mount Saint
Vincent College, she went on to study formal figure drawing for six years
(1969-1974) at the Art Students League of New York. There she studied under
Robert Shultz (the illustrator who continued Norman Rockwell's tradition and
became famous for his illustrations that graced the covers of many Zane Gray
books).
During the summer months Schultz held numerous plein-air
classes on landscape painting in the New Jersey countryside where Sally would
religiously drive long distances to attend.
Sally married in her
mid-twenties and painted her first 'beach scene' while she was pregnant with her
first child. Sally remembers the time quite well: It was somewhat of an
accident that I thought about painting children at the beach. I had studied
figure and landscape painting at the Art Students League and I was somewhat
searching for a subject that interested me. While I was pregnant with my first
child, one day I went to the beach with my mother and took some photos of
children playing in puddles. I went home and painted a small painting and showed
it to some people. The response was very encouraging. They liked the feeling of
the painting. I painted a few more that summer.
After the birth of
her first daughter, Noelle in 1975, she spent many summer days at the beaches
around Greenwich, Connecticut. She would take Noelle and her friends to the
beach during the summer months. There she would capture children on film in all
types of beach activities. Her favorite images are of children playing in tidal
pools, yielding light filled and colorful reflections.
When her
second daughter, Katie, was born in 1981 she continued the daily summer visits
to the beach - adding a new model for her work. The groups of children who
gathered to go to the beach grew in numbers and as Noelle and Katie got older,
the family would travel to beaches in the Hamptons, and to various beaches in
Northern and Southern California. Sally would carry a variety of colorful
clothing and an assortment of hats to the beach and she spent a considerable
amount of time searching for the right beach apparel.
There
was a significant amount of bribery that went on between Sally and her children
so that they would co-operate in what she now calls her 'beach dress up photo
archives'. The children knew it was a way to acquire further summer treats and
gain extra benefits; the children knew how to gain favors - it was all quite
amusing to Sally. Her beach photo sessions would always draw a crowd, especially
the young children, which allowed her access to even more
models.
During
the winter months Sally would spend her time painting portraits with most of her
commissions coming from referrals, however her love was the summer images on the
beach. Today, while she still receives many commissions for portrait work, she
has turned her attention to her carefree images of children playing on the
beach. Sally uses her extensive 'beach dress up photo archives' as inspiration
for her warm and colorful images of childhood.
Sally has exhibited in the
Hudson Valley Juried Show; was selected to paint the Governor of Connecticut's
Christmas card two years in a row; has had a number of one-women shows in
Connecticut and is involved in numerous charities. Each year Sally donates works
to: Brunswick Academy, Greenwich Academy, Lime Association of Fairfield County,
Putnam Indian Field School and Sloan Kettering Hospital (American Cancer
Society) so they may be auctioned off to raise funds.
Currently
Sally is a member of the following Societies: American Impressionist Society;
American Society of Marine Artists; American Society of Portrait Artists and the
Cape Cod Art Association.
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