One of Covington's most prolific and appreciated artists is Suzanne King, not only for her skill and stylish technique, but also for her variety of work for a number of community organizations. The ChefSoiree, the St. Tammany Parish Fair Association, the Covington Heritage Foundation, and countless others have turned to her for special projects.
The St. Tammany Art Association has exhibited her mixed media works, and she was written up in the March 2015 issue of Inside Northside Magazine, as the artist who created the poster for that year's ChefSoiree event. CLICK HERE to read that article.
Her longtime devotion to producing award-winning fair posters is well-known, and in 2013 she created the memory-saturated Covington Bicentennial Poster.
Even as far back as 1979, she was doing posters for the fair association.
She attended evening art classes at Tulane in the early 1970s, and pursued photography, house renderings, silkscreen posters, pottery, and etchings while participating in numerous local and regional exhibits, winning several awards.
From 1992-95, Suzanne taught art at the expatriate school in Shekou, People's Republic of China. After traveling to many fascinating places in the world during the 1990s and exploring other art forms, she has returned to drawing and mixed media/collage/assemblage pieces combined with elements of graphics, a favorite form of artistic expression.
A solo show at the St. Tammany Art Association was a highlight of 2015, after which she completed illustrations for two children's books for local authors: The Mystery of the Missing Smile by Carroll Devine and New Orleans - 300 and Counting.... by Alice Couvillon and Elizabeth Moore.
She recently created Christmas cards for the Covington Heritage Foundation's History and Holly Home Tour, depicting the two churches on that year's tour, Covington Presbyterian and St. Peter Catholic Church.
In 2015, an article about her written by Kevin Chiri appeared in the St. Tammany West newspaper. CLICK HERE to read the article on the St. Tammany West website.
Here are several excerpts from that article:
Popular Covington artist Suzanne King is leaving legacy in parish with intriguing artwork
"King is unquestionably recognized as one of the top artists in St. Tammany Parish and has been exhibiting her extraordinary work locally for years through many different outlets. Describing herself as a “mixed media artist, she delights locals who have enjoyed her work for many years."King said she has always enjoyed the opportunity to use her art to exhibit many
different things in surprisingly interesting ways.
“I like learning and I see beauty and art in things that many people would
never notice,” she said. “I noticed a birds nest the other day and was
fascinated to see how the bird created it. I saw a dead tree recently and
thought it was beautiful when someone else didn’t see anything special about
it.
“I have always looked at things differently, but I guess that’s what most
artists do and that’s where the creative side comes through,” she added.
"King has been a lifelong resident of the Covington area, graduating from Covington High in 1963 and doing the usual things in school that predicted a career in art.
Drawing has always been King’s strong suit, Chiri wrote. “I’ve never stopped learning–that is what I enjoy in life,” she said. “I took
etching classes at Tulane when I worked at Shell, I love photography and have
worked at that, I love doing house renderings and I even learned guitar and
sign language.
Back in St. Tammany Parish in 1995 she has spent the past 20 years becoming
very involved in the community here, supporting numerous charitable events and
organizations through her work. She was among the founding members of the
Covington Business Association and continually finding new ways to draw and display her work, even
becoming the artist who draws the pictures on the pizza boxes for Covington’s
“Pizza Man.”
“I’m sure a lot of people will be surprised that I’m the one who does the Pizza
Man box art,” she added with a smile. “I enjoy it since it’s one more way to do
something with my art. As I said, I love discovering new things to work with,” she concluded.
CLICK HERE to view her artwork on display at the St. Tammany Art Association
