Meet Susan Tadlock Bond

Susan Tadlock Bond has been an artist for as long as she can remember. The KT resident won awards for her artwork as early as elementary school, and she holds a masters degree in art from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches. 

Today, Susan is proud to share her skills and encouragement with other Kissing Tree residents, and you can see her work in Independence Hall and Tarbox and Brown Restaurant as well as in The Spelman model home by Brookfield Residential in Kissing Tree’s new Model Village, opening April 11–12. We sat down with Susan to hear about the pieces included in the Spelman and what she loves about life here at Kissing Tree.

KT: Susan, your work is beautiful! Have you always been an art teacher?

Susan: Yes, I’ve taught school all my life! Back in university in my 20s, I was managing the Stephen F. Austin University Art Craft Shop and Studio, where we did pottery, woodshop and printmaking. I’ve taught college in Houston and Dallas, and have been the art department head and curriculum coordinator for all K-12 students in Allen, Texas. I’ve led workshops all over America and overseas teaching art teachers how to teach the IB (International Baccalaureate) program, and I’m still doing classes for them even though I’m retired from secondary education. I also taught in China for a couple of years.

KT: Wow! How did you end up at Kissing Tree?

Susan: When Covid hit, my husband and I wanted to move from Houston to be closer to our children and grandkids, who are in Austin and Boerne. When we first came and looked at Kissing Tree, there weren’t more than 100 houses here. Now we’ve been here for 5 years and we have so many friends!

KT: What classes do you teach here at Kissing Tree?

Susan: Let’s see, I’ve done batik, watercolor, drawing, acrylic, abstract, plein air and pottery, but it’s mostly acrylic and watercolor. I teach classes out of my home studio, and for the plein air classes, we paint on location. I call myself the “KT wall and crawl girl.”

KT: What does that mean, wall and crawl?!

Susan: I choose the artwork for the art wall in Independence Hall, and I set up the shows and gallery openings. Each show lasts for 2 months and then we switch the work out. The theme for this month is KT Images, so all the work features things that happen at KT. You’ll see local landscapes and golf course images! We have some hot tub pictures, local homes, and different things from around KT. It’s a cute show. Then in the fall, I help lead the KT Art Crawl, which is our KT home studio tour. There are about a dozen of us who have participated over the last 4 years, and we have a 2-day show where we welcome visitors into our home studios and display and sell our work, and there’s usually wine, champagne and snacks. About half of us have casitas, and my studio is in my office space. Last year we had a couple hundred people come through! It’s very popular.

KT: It sounds like there are quite a few artists and art appreciators at Kissing Tree!

Susan: There are a lot of wonderful people here who are really educated and talented. There are about 15 of us who were fine artists in our lives — we taught school, ran galleries, and led workshops. And there are a lot of people who retired and want to learn how to paint. Maybe they were Sunday painters, and now they have more time and want to explore art more. I’ve started a plein air group that meets on 1^st and 3^rd Wednesdays, and we go out and paint in the community.

KT: What is plein air painting like?

Susan: Plein air is a French term meaning open air, and it refers to the practice of painting landscapes outdoors. There are about 10 of us that like to paint plein air, and because it’s outside, we have about two hours to paint something. We bring all of our equipment with us, we paint and don’t really talk. Then we critique our work at the end, which is super fun. The weather has been good, so we get out more often. We paint on site, around Kissing Tree. Because we are painting images of Kissing Tree for this most recent show, we’ve been painting next to the golf course where we can see the tee, the green and the hole with some of the local homes. It’s fun when we’re around the greens, the golfers will drive by, stop, and talk to us.

KT: And one of your plein air paintings is in the Spelman model home, is that right?

Susan: Yes! The new model homes are so lovely. They wanted the models to reflect real people who live in Kissing Tree, and one of the homes, The Spelman, has a room that’s a fine artist’s home studio, so they bought four of my pieces to display. You’ll find St. Lawrence River in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, which is a work in acrylic. The landscape with the fence is the plein air watercolor I painted onsite. It’s called Sunset in Taos, New Mexico. There’s a watercolor I painted in China called Old Man Selling Pomegranates in Jiangsu Province, China. And then there’s also an unfinished watercolor that will be displayed on an easel called Blue Pick ‘um up Truck from Taos.

KT: That’s so exciting! I can’t wait to see them. Is your husband also an artist?

Susan: Ross is originally from Australia and New Zealand. He’s a bass player, and in a couple of different bands that play at The Mix on Tuesday and Thursday happy hour music nights. The MIX Artist Gallery Show is available to view during the music hours too.

KT: Thank you for sharing your talents with the community! We’re so lucky to have you both.

Susan: Oh, thank you! When you teach and share with students, the whole world becomes better. Art helps us create a better world.

If you want to join a community that lets you explore your creative side, find your home at Kissing Tree now. You can start joining all of our community’s groups, clubs, and classes as soon as you sign your contract.