Susan Ragland 

Susan Ragland has had a 30-year career creating and initially selling art largely outside of the conventional art circuits. Through private exhibits and by word of mouth, her art found its way into the permanent acquisitions of major art collectors throughout the U.S. including the Colored Girls’ Museum; a long-time host of ABC’s The View; professional athletes; George Washington University, Temple University; various on-air news pundits, and in the homes of regular folks.

Recent exhibits include : “I’m Black and I’m Proud”, The Colored Girls Museum, Philadelphia; “ Inaugural Show”, Museum of African American Art Collections, Awbury Arboretum, Philadelphia; “May Safe Arms Find Me”, Station 3510 Gallery, Mt.Ranier; “Wooder Ice”, Arts League, Philadelphia; “For the Love of Art” Juneteenth exhibit at the Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey; the Colored Girls’ Museum 10th Anniversary Show, “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me...Anymore”, Philadelphia City Hall; Harlem Fine Arts Show via Moody Jones Gallery, New York City; Touchstone Gallery, “District 51 Show”, Washington, DC, and the Woodmere Museum Annual 82nd Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia, during which she won the Hugh and Marian Scott Prize. Susan was also a 2024-2025 Black Artist Fellow with the Philadelphia Mural Arts.

artist Statement

I am a Philadelphia-based, African-American folk artist who came of age in the 1970s dancing to funk music and marveling at the artistic works passed down from the Harlem Renaissance artists. Through a mixture of these influences and my own lens, my work explores the humanity of Black subjects as they move in familiar, comfortable settings. An amalgam of humor, imprecision, stylized images, and bursting colors characterize the inhabitants of my painted universe. Simultaneously accessible and thoughtful, my paintings employ bold hues to imbue majestic feelings in viewers who recognize our valuable imprint on both the fantastical and the mundane; this consideration encourages one to paradoxically view the mundane as vibrant. (In other words, we bring the funk). Although I have always painted with persistent themes of human connection, I have recently, however, begun to tap deeper into the deliberate examination of the subjects’ existence from a purely intra-communal perspective. This point of entry could erroneously be regarded as simplistic but is the essence of our enduring spirit. While characters’ faces are often expressionless to depict steadiness, swirling energy exudes through the hair or hands. Viewers may further connect with my pieces through the often colloquially-expressed titles, written with poetic rhythm alongside a nod to cultural knowing. The intention centers community first but beckons all viewers to identify universallyshared joy and join the celebration.