All of Susan's programs are available to schools, libraries, museums, hospitals, summer camps, nursing homes, senior centers and other venues through out New England. We are located in Brattleboro, Vermont.
ABOUT SUSAN ROSANO, MA
Susan E. Rosano, MA, is a Mosaic and Mural Artist with a Masters Degree from Wesleyan University. She is a National Arts Strategies Creative Community Fellow for 2021-2022. For the past twenty+ years she has worked as a Master Teaching Artist and Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator on the juried rosters of the Vermont Arts Council, Arts for Learning Connecticut and Life Time Arts in Vermont. She is presently playing her ukulele in The Green Mountain Strummers, a ukulele band based in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Susan works with communities of all ages to create painted or mosaic murals that have current, relevant themes. Susan’s murals grace the walls of schools, hospitals, senior centers, libraries, museums and other public spaces around New England. Recently, Susan has created nine murals with parents and students at an elementary school in Newtown, CT with themes that include respect, friendship, hope and kindness; all are symbols of a community that is moving on from tragedy.
Susan has worked with people of all ages in a hospice program. Using the arts, she helped terminally ill patients and their families express themselves. Through her projects with them, legacy items and family heirlooms were created for future generations. Susan also works with people with developmental disabilities, bringing to them her art projects that intertwine self expression with creativity and joy.
Another one of Susan’s popular community arts projects called “Oil Drum Art,” consists of painting murals that make an artistic statement about environmental issues on recycled 55-gallon oil drums. She is an art professor at the Charter Oak State College and a credentialed Expressive Arts Therapist and Counselor. Susan is also a mosaic artist, creating her own artwork at her studio in Guilford, Vermont.
Visit Susan's other website:
www.VermontMosaics.com - See Susan's fine art mosaic works
Susan E. Rosano, M.A., REACE
Email: srosano754@gmail.com
Phone: 802-254-6201
EDUCATION
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT - Master of Fine Arts 2003
St. Francis Academy, Hartford, CT – Certificate in Clinical Pastoral Counseling 2004
Charter Oak State College, CT – BA in Fine Art 1998
Art Institute of Boston, MA – Fine Arts Program 1990 – 1993
WORK EXPERIENCE
Master Teaching Artist – Vermont Arts Council, Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism and Young Audiences & VSA Arts of Connecticut - May 2003 to present. Arts in Education Master Teaching Artist, developing and teaching visual arts programs for hundreds of students, teachers and administrators. Serve as a consultant for the arts and special needs groups. Presenter at conferences, workshops & in-services.
Adjunct Professor – Charter Oak State College, New Britain, CT – January 2010 – 2017. Teach On-line Visual Arts Capstone Course, a final project course for Visual Arts BA program students
Artist – Creating one of a kind art using mosaics, paints and other multimedia as a life-long pursuit
Expressive Arts Therapist - Connecticut VNA’s Hospice, Wallingford, - March 2004 to September 2009 Create, develop and implement visual art projects, poetry & programs with terminally ill adults, seniors, children and their families; curate and promote art exhibit; Presenter at conferences, workshops, in-services and marketing programs about hospice to community.
Teacher – New England Expressive Arts, - May 2000 to present. Teaching mosaic classes in my studio for the past 4 years. Business owner of New England Expressive Arts providing consulting services, grant writing, community programs, training and advocacy for the arts.
Expressive Arts Therapist - The Kennedy Center, Bridgeport, May 2002 to March 2004. Counseling team member to provide visual arts classes, dance therapy and poetry facilitation for adults and senior groups with special needs.
ARTS EXPERIENCE
Visual Arts - Making mosaics using handmade and pre-made ceramic & stained glass tiles, broken dishware, old jewelry, beads and other found objects; fine art painting with watercolors and pastels; painted murals using acrylics; Presently doing commission work and gallery shows
Teaching - Mosaics, drawing, painting with pastels, teaching mural & community arts making programs
Art Shows - My work has been shown at the following places( from 2003 – 2022): Vermont - Marketplace River Garden Art & Craft Gallery, Cotton Mill Holiday Craft Show, Newfane Heritage Festival, Artrageous I Gallery, The Hub Gallery, Newfane Fine Art Show, Blue Moose Café, Brattleboro Cheese Shop & Café (Dec. 2013 Gallery Walk opening,) Twice Upon A Time. Connecticut - Guilford Arts Center, The Mercy Center Gallery, Mystic Arts Center, Essex Art Association, Connecticut College, Claire Gallery, Windham Arts Center, Institute for Community Research, St. Francis Hospital Integrative Medicine Dept. Gallery, Farmington Valley Center for the Arts, Masonicare Gallery, NOMA Gallery, Green St. School Gallery, and many other locations.
Curator Work - The Arts Council of Windham County – The Hub Gallery, Brattleboro, VT; St. Francis Hospital, Hartford, CT (2009 – 2011) – Curator of the Integrative Medicine Art Gallery. Rotate exhibit every two months, showing art with a healing theme
Awakening the Imagination of Medicine Conference (2009), with Authors Thomas Moore, James Hillman, Michael Kierny, East Hartford, CT – Curator of art show for Thomas Moore at this conference. Art with the subject of alternative healing and self expression works from patients were gathered for this show.
Completing the Journey: The Art of Hospice Care (2005 – 2009) – Past curator of traveling art show of works done by, for and about terminally ill patients, sponsored by Masonicare, a Connecticut Home Healthcare Corporation. Organize all events revolving around this art show, including jurying art pieces for this show, creating programs for the public about the show, opening receptions, and educational events.
MURAL & COMMUNITY ART WORK
2021 - 2022
Central Vermont Council on Aging, Montpelier, VT - Created 3 programs for their Creative Aging Program that brings arts instructions to homebound adults.
National Arts Strategies New England Creative Community Fellowship Project called "Wisdom In Our Community."
2017 - 2022
Vermont Mosaics, Guilford, VT - Making Mosaic Art; Selling in galleries and craft shows across New England.
2017
Middlegate Elementary School, Newtown, CT – Creating 9 painted murals with elementary school students and their families in an after school community project. Mural themes include friendship, hope, love, kindness, respect, etc. This is a work in progress at the moment.
Slow Living Summit – Created a “Community Garden” mural in conjunction with the keynote speaker, Alisa Gravitz presentation, with participation of the audience and Slow Living Summit community.
2014
Clifford Beers Clinic, New Haven, CT – Mosaic Mask Making for Self Confidence with women’s group Biologic Wellness Center, Brattleboro, VT – Zentangles for relaxation Interdistrict Library Project, Berlin, CT – 4 Zentangles workshops with high school students to be hung at the New Britain Museum of American Art MASS Mutual Insurance , Springfield, MA – Bring Your Child to Work Day project making “Woodland Houses” with 250 children Daisy Ingraham School, Westbrook, CT – Oil Drum Mural Art with 4th grade Duffy Elementary School, West Hartford, CT – Zentangles Mural with 4th & 5th grade Celentano School, New Haven, CT – Mural with after school program Windham County Student Art Show, Brattleboro, VT – Initiated judging of high school student art show Biologic Wellness Center, Brattleboro, VT - Make A Wish Doll Expressive Arts workshop
2013
Rotella Magnet School, Waterbury, CT – “Our Neighborhood” community art project with 125 first graders making wooden block houses & landscapes. John Martinez School, New Haven, CT – Painted 8’ x 4’ mural “Under the Sea” with 20 kindergartners and 12’ x 4’ mural “Our Solar System” with 66 fifth graders After School Network – Teaching the Art of Mural Making With Students at this conference Pleasant Valley School - Oil Drum Art – Mural scenes on 55 gallon oil drums with 120 third graders
2012
State of CT Office of the Arts, Hartford, CT – Mosaic Mural 6’ x 4’ “Tree of Life”
John Martinez School, New Haven, CT – Painted two 5’ x 4’ murals “Healthy Life Styles”
Southfield Children’s Center, Newington, CT – Mosaic 8’ x 4’ mural “Families Together”
John Martinez School, New Haven, CT – Oil Drum Art – mural scenes on 55 gallon oil drums
Litchfield Bancorp, Litchfield, CT – Oil Drum Art – mural scenes on 55 gallon oil drums
John Lyman School, Middlefield, CT – Oil Drum Art – mural scenes on 55 gallon oil drums
Derynoski Elementary School – Oil Drum Art – mural scenes on 55 gallon oil drums
2011
St. Francis Integrative Medicine Center – Painted 15’ x 8’ mural in hospital hallway
State of CT Higher Order Thinking Schools Conference, Hartford, CT – Oil Drum Art
CREC Soundbridge, Wethersfield, CT – Community Mosaic Mural 12’ x 6’
Wesley School, Middletown, CT – Oil Drum Art
HONORS and AWARDS
Vice President, Arts Council of Windham County – Voted to be VP last October after serving as a Trustee for 2 years.
International Expressive Arts Therapy Association 2010 awarded REACE designation (Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator) through rigorous application process and was invited to sit on the REACE Application Review Panel in 2011.
Winner of Guilford Arts Center Achievement Award 2006 Year of the Child - award to an individual who excels in teaching visual arts to improve or enhance the quality of life of children who are emotionally, physically or mentally challenged.
Haddam Art Guild Second Prize for silkscreen/drawing 2000
D'Amato Award for Graduate Studies - Charter Oak State College, May 2002. Received the annual award to a Charter Oak alumna actively pursuing a graduate degree and demonstrating serious scholarship, a commitment to learning and a commitment to community service in the area of people with special needs.
State of CT Advisory Board for Artists with Disabilities – invited to be an Advisory Board member by the State of CT Commission on Culture and Tourism, to plan and conduct a Forum on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities in the State of Connecticut starting in January of 2008.
EDUCATIONAL TRAVEL
Semester At Sea University of Pittsburgh , Spring 2005 Voyage – Traveled to Kenya , South Africa, Brazil & Venezuela with 650 college students, 100 faculty, staff and crew. Participated in the teaching and study of visual art of Africa and South America, as well as taught an educational seminar on the use of the arts with hospice, while on this educational journey.
Programs offered:
Art Classes:
Wisdom In Our Community for Seniors:
(see Senior Programs page)
Collage Your Kin
Life Path
Personal History Poems
Drawing - Beginners
Pastels - Beginners
Mosaics
Oil Drum Art: Painting environmentally themed, recycled 55-gallon oil drums with scenes of positive environment.
Murals: Any theme to go with your curriculum or community concerns. Murals from a project in a Newtown elementary school with Susan used themes of Kindness, Respect, Love, Peace, Friendship, Care, Perseverance, Citizenship and Hope. These are the words of their community, the things they thrive by. Murals have been made revolving around solar systems, ecology, eco systems, climate change, historic villages, books, and much more!
Mosaics: Murals, individual projects or lessons, mosaics are a multi-day project that teaches many things: design, color theory, making your own tiles, use of found objects in art such as old jewelry, coins, shells and other broken materials. Also the use of building materials such as tile, glue, & grout, waterproofing, etc is taught with lessons in safety and care for the environment.
3 Dimensional Arts: Some examples of a 3-d curricular extension art project would be Mummy Masks, Geometric Houses, Junk People and other projects created around your curriculum.
New England Expressive Arts was opened in 2001, with Susan E. Rosano, MA, Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator, to serve the needs of our growing schools, libraries, museums, hospitals and senior centers. Over the years, we have earned praise for our Community Arts Programs. Susan brings over 20 years of experience guiding members of your community in art making for public places.
CARING
COMMUNITY arts projectS
Susan & Dennis's dog, Luna
Susan
New England Expressive Art
Wonder. Learn. Grow.
Susan & her husband Dennis
SUSAN ROSANO, MA
MASTER TEACHING ARTIST
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