Today we’d like to introduce you to Sue Hand.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
There was never anything else I wanted to be except an artist. On my fifth birthday, I announced to my cousins that I was going to be an artist when I grew up. They laughed and teased me a bit because all of our parents and grandparents were farmers, carpenters, coal miners, mechanics, or housewives. My mom had a lot of artistic talent and she loved to sew and make crafts. We were always making things or doing things or building things. My dad designed and built our home himself in his spare time from his work as a mechanic. I was blessed to have parents who supported me. Looking back, it was a Henry David Thoreau type childhood. I was an only child, but I had 10 acres of woods, double that in fields belonging to family members, and all the time in the world, it seemed, to paint and draw and make things. And to just think.
My mom’s dream was for me to go to college. As long as I was going to be a teacher, my dad accepted that. He didn’t want me to be one of those crazy artists when I grew up, but a teacher of art was OK in his eyes! I graduated from Kutztown State College, now Kutztown University, in 1967 and the very next day, married my high school boyfriend, Joe, and moved to Maryland where he was already working. While in Maryland I taught at two different elementary schools in their art program. Within a few years, we moved back home with our daughter. For a while I worked different jobs, including as a fifth grade classroom teacher, but Joe’s mother had a storefront available and she allowed me to start an art studio on Main Street in Dallas in 1976, the day after I stopped teaching at Gate Of Heaven parochial school where I taught fifth grade, all subjects.
This past June, I celebrated our 50th year as Sue Hand’s Imagery, a business on Main Street in Dallas, Pennsylvania. It’s been a wonderful ride! I’ve been able to combine my love of teaching with my love of drawing and painting. I teach all ages and all levels, from preschool students to ultra senior citizens and beginners to professional. I have taught workshops in other states. I have taught adjunct for several colleges in their art programs. These days I only teach in my studio, but I absolutely love teaching, and my students are my legacy. Starting in 1996 when I decided to do a Millennium Collection from Northeastern Pennsylvania of 366 paintings to honor the 366 days in the year 2000. I began working in large series of artworks. Right after the Millennium Collection, I began the Anthracite Miners and their Hollowed Ground, which was 350 hexagonal-shaped canvases of acrylic painting and collage. That collection is now on permanent display at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, purchased and donated by the late Jim Burke. After that, I created 80 botanical illustrations from plants and trees in my own backyard. They were on display in several important exhibitions. Because of what I had learned about coal mining, I became very interested in the Susquehanna River, which is tied to the anthracite coal industry here in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and with friends, I paddled a canoe and painted 350 artworks of the North Branch of the Susquehanna river from its mouth in New York State to the junction of the West branch in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, about 350 miles. We canoed it in stages, sometimes stopping on the river’s islands to paint, sometimes taking hundreds of photo references or working on sketches, which later became finished paintings.
After my river series, I became interested in anthracite coal mining again and proceeded to do 150 works of coal breakers and the people that worked in them, around them, and in the communities, young and old, rich and poor, male and female, all created from historic photographs and family photos loaned to me by many local people.
In 2025, I painted 140 small acrylic paintings of Harvey’s Lake, which is a very well-known natural lake 5 miles away from my studio. Earlier I had created the scenes of and from every [telephone] pole around the lake. Historically, when electricity came to the lake, the light poles were labeled with a number, all 311 of them! That is how people refer to the location of their home on the lake. That series became 311 watercolor paintings, all created en plein air, on location at Harvey’s Lake.
My current series is small, only eight pieces, but each one is 3 feet x 5 feet in measurement. They are acrylic paintings of places that I think embody America the Beautiful.
In my career, I have created over 10,000 pieces of artwork and taught many, many thousands of students. I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities by King’s College, I’ve been designated a Woman of History by the Daughters of the American Revolution. I was in the inaugural class of the Luzerne County Hall of Fame for Art and Entertainment, along with the famous artist of history, George Catlin, who was born in Wilkes-Barre. My donated paintings have raised close to $100,000 for community endeavors. In 1983, I founded the Cider Painters of America, which is now an international miniature art painting organization. I also founded the Suzanne Maria Rossetti Memorial Juried Art Exhibition, which has become one of our area’s most respected art contests for school students in grades seven through 12. In March of 2027, it will celebrate its 45th year.
I have now entered my eighth decade and I’m still working full-time, teaching and painting. I have no plans to retire. I’m leaving that decision up to God. In the meantime, I’m enjoying every day to the fullest! At my studio, now entering our the 51st year, my husband, Joe is my full-time partner, our daughter, Heather, is our manager of the entire business, and our son-in-law Tim, who is general manager of two radio stations. They are indispensable in helping set up and tear down art exhibits here at our studio and galleries around our area, and while our three granddaughters were growing up, they were all integral parts of the studio. Our seven great-grandchildren all live in the south or they would be here with us helping as well!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’ve had a few health struggles, the worst of which was Lyme Disease, twice from ticks while out on painting excursions.
As far as business, we’ve stayed small and personal, always operating within our income, adjusting when necessary, and relying on word of mouth, rather than advertising, a reputation built from honest and sincere work.
Covid-19 was a nightmare!!!!! I was labeled as NONESSENTIAL.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Because I was trained as an art educator 60 years ago when public schools had vibrant art departments, teachers in training were expected to know something about everything. We studied drawing and painting, printmaking, mechanical drawing, sculpture, jewelry and metal craft, model making from scratch, stage design, theatrical costuming, interior design, as well as art history and all of the various drawing and painting media. When I started my art studio, I decided to specialize in fine art drawing and painting. When I first began, I was known for my watercolor paintings. But now I think I am equally recognized for paintings that I have created in oil and acrylic as well. It helps with my teaching program that I am able to teach one person, charcoal, and then turn and help the next person with gouache. My classes are set up with no more than 10 students in a class. Depending on age and ability, my art classes are basically private instruction in a group setting so that I move from one student to the next helping everyone as their needs arise. I always say, “I don’t teach art; I teach people to create art and to make their own art, not my art.”
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
My mentor, besides my own mom, was my private art teacher, Mrs. Dorothy Brace Barber. She encouraged me. She helped me. She inspired me. Most importantly, she believed in me.
I enjoy serving in the mentorship role. In my experience, you don’t search for a mentor. You find one along the way, pursuing something you are passionate about. It could be sports, or writing, or business, or what have you. For me that was art.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://suehand.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suehandsimagery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SueHandsImagery
