William Suys

Oil painter Bill Suys is a Signature Member of both the Oil Painters of America and the Portrait Society of America whose greatest joy in life is standing behind his easel, indoors or out, with a brush in his hand. Bill creates studio and plein air works using wide-ranging subject matter: portraiture/figurative, animals, landscape/architecture and still life.. Suys paints, teaches, judges, lectures and demonstrates. He has won a great many national and international awards and is proud to serve on the OPA Board of Directors.

Bill’s recent notable accomplishments include First Place, Portrait of a Living Artist in Fine Art Connoisseur’s Artists and Selfies competition, and ‘Most Imaginative’ in the OPA Eastern Regional Exhibition in 2020. In 2019, Suys was honored to receive the Dorothy Driehaus Mellin Fellowship Award at the OPA National Exhibition. In 2018, Best Body of Work and the Matisse Award at the Olmsted Plein Air Invitational, and the Silver Medal at the 2018 OPA National Salon show, were highlights. Suys’s work has been selected to hang in 8 OPA National Exhibitions since 2010 (awarded Best Animal in 2016 and the Animal Award of Excellence in 2017), and is repeatedly chosen as a finalist and award winner in the ARC Salon. In 2013, Suys was awarded Best in Show at the Salon International.

In addition to group and one-man gallery shows, event invitations, awards earned, juried show acceptances – and some wonderful editorial coverage in Southwest Art, Fine Art Connoisseur, Plein Air magazine and American Art Collector magazine – Suys’s devotion to his craft, his participation in plein air invitationals and juried exhibitions, judging, and increasingly teaching, have helped him grow not just in reputation but as a soulful painter who believes in the power of both observation and introspection.

Suys believes that ‘a rising tide floats all boats’ and generously shares his acquired knowledge; he is committed to lifelong learning, the quest for excellence, and to creating work that stands the test of time.

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 16^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.