EDUCATOR
Susan has not traveled in more than 70 countries, constantly learning about culture and education in the world. Working in other countries gives her a valuable perspective on education, specifically Montessori education, and enriches her next written article or consultation or talk. She has consulted in a variety of countries including the USA, India, New Zealand, Thailand, Nepal, The Bahamas, Bhutan, Peru, Albania, The Netherlands, and Russia.
MONTESSORI OVERVIEWS: Susan's writing on Montessori education can be found here:
The Joyful Child Montessori overview for the child from birth to three+
Child of the World Montessori overview for the child from three to twelve+
CHILDREN'S PROJECTS: For information on
international projects to help children that resulted from Susan's travels, go to: michaelolaf.net/childrensprojects.html
UPDATE 2010: Susan just finished a "store" site for the Michael Olaf Montessori Company: store
"NOTES
FROM THE FIELD" (PDF)
Some of Susan's Montessori-related experiences over the years. These PDF files are from a PowerPoint presentation
given at the AMI Centenary Celebration in San Francisco in February, 2007.
Part 11964-2003, India (Mumbai); London; Lima, Peru; California;
Japan; India (Dharamsala, Tibetan children's village); Nepal, Tibet; Australia; Nepal; Thailand (PDF)
Part 2 2006, Nepal; Thailand; Bhutan (PDF)
Undergraduate studies:
Denison University (Granville, Ohio), Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana),
The Semester at Sea program (University of Virginia; previously knows as "The University of the Seven Seas" a shipboard study/travel trip around the world, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia),
De Pauw University School of Music (Bay View Music Festival, Petoskey, Michigan), Alliance Francaise (Paris, France), San Francisco State University (San Francisco, California)
Graduate or extension courses:
San Francisco State University, The California Institute of Integral Studies (San Francisco, previously known as The California Institute of Asian Studies), University
of the Virgin Islands (USVI, St. Croix), The Berkeley Psychic Institute
(Berkeley, CA), University of California (Berkeley, CA), Loyola College
in Baltimore, Harvard Graduate School of Education (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Degrees: BA, Philosophy;
MA, Education
Post-graduate diplomas:
AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) diplomas for three levels:
Birth to three (TMI, Denver, Colorado, and Rome Italy)
Age 2-7 (MMI, London, England)
Age 6-12+ (WMI, Washington, DC)
Susan's Montessori teachers and lecturers included Mario
Montessori, Mario Montessori, Jr., Renilde Montessori, and several others
trained by Dr. Maria Montessori.
She has attended master classes given by Dr. Suzuki and
visited the Suzuki Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan. At
their request she spoke on Montessori at an International Suzuki conference.
She has studied Teaching for Understanding (TfU), and Project Zero (PZ),
along with participants from twenty-six countries, under Howard Gardner,
at The Harvard Graduate School of Education. Inspired by Howard Gardner
she visited the Reggio Emilia program in Northern Italy, and is involved
with a project to provide educational tours to study Montessori and Reggio
schools in that country, where both Montessori and Reggio Emilia began.
She has taught children from birth through college, worked
as a counselor for juvenile delinquents and a school administrator, published
articles, and lectured in colleges and universities. She has written for and spoken at conferences for several Montessori organizations, including AMI, AMS, NCME, and independent
training centers, and has worked as course assistant and in other roles for The Montessori Institute in Denver, Colorado and for the first AMI Montessori
training course held in Thailand.
In April, 2008, Susan gave the first public Montessori lecture in Tirana, Albania to the heads of government, and celebrated the opening of the first Montessori school in Albania. On the way home she was hosted in Italy by two of her art patrons who have her oil paintings hanging in their lovely home in Rome. She was taken to see the art of Giotto in the Upper Church in Assisi, to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and to experience religious art in Sienna and Rome. There are some wonderful pictures here: Assisi
EDUCATION CONSULTANT
Dear Susan
Your experiences of working in so many diverse environments and with all
age groups gives you a depth of knowledge that is rare to find. You build
on the experiences of the people and the environment that exist, focusing
on their strengths and not making them feel their weaknesses are failures.
Your suggestions do not feel like criticism; you have a unique way in
passing on direction in a very supportive way.
At 2 Voices we have felt that your suggestions
have made a big difference already as we slowly work towards the goals
we set. Some of your suggestions just in the positioning of furniture
and art work were small details but they have had a big effect. It was
a fresh eye coming into the working environment that gave the already
hard working teachers a boost and stimulation to go further. Susan, you
have a keen eye for what is disrupting the environment and your solutions
were clear, simple and, most importantly, easy to apply. Thank you!!
—Heidi Philappart, 2 Voices Montessori School, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Dear Susan,
From all of us here in Moscow we would like to thank you for the work that you have done! I am so happy to know you and we all feel that this is a beginning of a new friendship and we do think we'll meet again soon! Nina says they all felt extremely enlightened, as if they all came out of a church!
I've been hearing more comments about your lecture and how people were happy to be able to ask questions and get their answers —both parents and teachers from other Montessori schools told me that.
—Valentina Zaytseva, Montessori School of Moscow |
ARTIST
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.
—John Keats
It is
only with the heart that one can see clearly.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Much of Susan's art is inspired during her work as an international consultant supporting the use of Montessori philosophy and practice in a variety of ways.
Susan has studied art in some form or another since 1960.
During her travels she sketches and photographs the people and scenes that inspire
her the most, and upon her return combines them with her own memories,
creating oil paintings in order to share her experiences with others.
She haunts art museums wherever she goes, at times arranging travel around
specific art shows, especially of the impressionists and post impressionists.
In order to carefully learn from the great masters she sometimes paints studies
of their work.
She has taught art appreciation and studio arts. Her work hangs in a variety of places including Moscow, Albania, Japan, Palestine, Australia, Thailand, Italy, Colombia, and Sweden, and throughout the USA.
CHILDREN'S
PORTRAITS — 6 original oils available, 3 fine art prints
MISCELLANEOUS ORIGINALS-1
MISCELLANEOUS ORIGINAL-2 — 3 original oils available
ASIA PAINTINGS — 2 original oils available, 3 fine art prints
STUDIES — 2 oils available
AVAILABLE
FINE ART PRINTS
Fine art prints of four of Susan's most popular Asia paintings are available
to be special ordered. Each print, and the certificate of authenticity, is
individually published and signed. Susan's
giclée prints are published by Meridian Design of Arcata, California. For more
information on the history and production of giclée prints go to: giclée
printing. If ordering a giclée
please allow up to a month for your order
to be prepared.
ARTIST'S
BIOGRAPHY — her work in both art and education. Susan is above all a keen observer. She is known most of all for her portraits of
children, done in the style of impressionism, and which tell a story or
in some way express an element in the life of a child.
ARCHIVES
STUDIO
SHOWS
POSTERS
PRICING: The price of each of Susan's oil paintings is based on the size, difficulty, and length of time necessary to get the desired results. As most artists, and Susan finds that abstract paintings are the easiest, landscapes next, still life next, and portraits the most difficult. Of portraits, paintings of children are by far the most challenging. The great masters of Europe often set a priced based on the number of faces in a portrait commission, and charged extra for each hand; as faces and hands take the most skill on the part of the artist. Prices vary from $500 to $5000.
Contact: susanonly@earthlink.net
Susan's Art Studio, Trinidad, California |