Coloring Outside The Lines

Susan Sommer-Luarca still pulls off the bright-eyed, small-town girl persona well. She’s 39 with a toothy grin and a cute country drawl. She grew up on a farm between Republic and Billings, and she loves all animals. She honed her drawing skills by sketching each of the horses on her family’s farm. Today, that ability to create detail stands out in her work, as seen on the sign of Ernie Biggs Chicago Style Dueling Piano Bar in Springfield.

In late 2006, Susan’s career took off without warning. One day she was working on private jobs and spending a lot of her time managing her art gallery in downtown Springfield. The next day she was being invited to carry on a legacy for a world-famous environmental artist. Just like that, she went from “local artist” to “national artist.” with plans to tour the country several times a year to paint murals. But her career’s quick ascent didn’t stop there.

A few weeks after she decided to dedicate her life to environmental art, Susan’s agent called her with another amazing opportunity: to create official artwork for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. If a national tour wasn’t enough exposure to the world, having her work shown on an international stage certainly would be.

The Apprentice Becomes the Master

Until last year, Susan wasn’t as well known for her wildlife art. She can’t display a mural of a blue whale in her gallery when it’s painted on a wall overlooking a swimming pool at the Boys and Girls Club Musgrave Unit in Springfield. So while her gallery above Tradewinds Furniture Co. (owned by her husband-turned-manager, E.J. Luarca) might be a popular stop on First Friday Art Walk, it doesn’t really show the full scale of her talent.

Last October, Susan was invited to join world-famous environmental muralist Wyland in helping construct a mural for Springfield’s Wonders of Wildlife museum. Wyland—just Wyland, like Cher or Madonna—is famous for his activism as much as his nature art. He travels the world with his Wyland Foundation, using gigantic paintings of marine life to bring awareness to environmental issues. Susan had long been a fan of Wyland’s giant seascapes and brought a few of his art books to get signed. She had no idea that she’d be working side-by-side with him the next day. Wyland’s team later told Susan that he’d never invited a local artist to participate. Turns out, it was more of an audition than a friendly gesture.

The following day the famous artist approached Susan with an opportunity that would set a new course for her life. The muralist told her that he would soon be at the end of his 25-year project to paint 100 wildlife murals around the world. Impressed with the quality of her work and her passion for environmental conservation, he said he would refer any future requests for such murals to Susan. Within weeks, the Susan Sommer-Luarca Murals 4 Habitat foundation was born.

Today, Susan is on her own mission. She too has set a goal of painting 100 wildlife murals around the country, although unlike Wyland’s work, the murals won’t all be underwater scenes. She has also set a more stringent timetable than Wyland’s; she hopes to complete all 100 in the span of 10 years. The first two have already been completed in Springfield, and she plans at least two more here.

Preparing For The Future

If starting her own conservation awareness mural campaign wasn’t enough to keep her busy, there’s one more tiny little project. Although a connection with her agent, Mike Weitz, Susan was selected to be one of the few artists from the United States to create officially licensed artwork for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. USA Olympic art is officially licensed by Fine Art Limited, a St. Charles company that acts as the art sponsor for the U.S. Olympic Committee. President Jack Scharr says he was impressed by Susan’s wildlife paintings and portraits of athletes. She and several other undisclosed artists were chosen from around the country to create art inspired by the Olympics and its athletes. Past Olympic artists include Andy Warhol, Mary Engelbreit and many other boldface names.

Sometime next year, 5,000 limited-edition prints of her painting will be sold by Fine Art Ltd. She’s tight-lipped about her plans for the design, but she says that ideas for paintings started cycling through her head the second she hung up the phone with her agent. Scharr says there will likely be an unveiling in town or in St. Charles, though details had not been finalized by press time.
Also at press time, Susan was gearing up to start her first national tour on February 1. Wyland invited the couple to meet him in Key Largo, and they thought it sounded like as good a time as any to start the tour. They’ll make their first stop in Louisiana on the way to Florida and should have enough dates added to make it a three-week tour, leaving freshly painted murals behind wherever they go. By March she hopes to have finished up much of the work on her Olympic piece as well. Her Springfield gallery will stay open, as will Tradewinds, despite all travel plans. As long as there are still blank walls in Springfield, Susan plans to stick around. Visit Susan’s gallery, above Tradewinds Furniture (315 South Ave., 417-865-6868) or her nature-art foundation, online at ssl4habitat.org.

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