Artist Launches Holiday Exhibition at Beachwood Studio

Susan Cone Porges found a Beachwood studio perfect for creating her own artwork, instructing others and now hosting a holiday show.

Porges will celebrate and display her students' work tonight with a reception to kick off her holiday show that runs through January 11. The Susan Cone Porges Art Studio has been at 23495 Mercantile Road Unit O since this summer.

"For the past five or six years, I've been teaching out of my home and working out of my home studio, but I kind of outgrew it," Porges said. "I decided to find a place outside of my house where I bring students and do my own artwork."

Porges also previously taught at the Solon Center for the Arts, Willoughby Fine Arts Association and Lakeland Community College.

Since closing in on the Mercantile space, Porges has offered classes on watercolor painting, oil/acrylic painting and caligraphy. Those classes last for four weeks. Her next class, "Drawing from the Portrait of Life," begins in January. That class will be an extension of Porges' model drawing nights, when she creates a portrait based on a hired model.

The increased space also allowed Porges to open a custom framing and matting shop in the back of her studio. The artist has a schedule of upcoming, daylong workshops, including one on portraiture in April with award-winning pastelist Judith Carducci.

Porges, a Solon resident, looked at sites in a few other communities with her husband, but 

"I grew up in Beachwood, so I know the area well," she said. "A lot of my customers are from this area — Beachwood, Pepper Pike, Shaker.

"This place just happened to be sort of ideal," Porges said. "I didn't need a storefront because I don't depend on passersby. It's like a destination."

For a weekly calendar of events and contact information, visit The Art Studio's website by clicking here.