Teacher, Artist and Now Author

Meet Susan Irland: respected art educator for 30 years, established artist and, most recently, author/illustrator of her first book, “The Telepathic Traveler: A to Z Guide Across The Globe”.

Susan developed a love of art very early in her young life. Susan?to paint in earnest at age 12--a beagle—and has been creating beautiful art ever since. She built an extensive portfolio while establishing her career as an art teacher. She has participated in numerous art shows and recently had a solo showing at Nashville Studios in Linwood, NJ. Many of her works are in private collections.

As a middle school art teacher, Susan has continually developed new methods to encourage her students to “be at one” with their creativity. In one such project, she asked her students to choose a favorite animal, envision that animal as a watercolor, then paint it in realistic or abstract form. Immediately following the completion of this project, Susan had her students select a poem or other short writing and interpret that writing through a watercolor creation. Noting the enthusiasm with which these two projects were received, the seed for a new idea was sown and, after a few years, it blossomed into The Telepathic Traveler, writ-ten and illustrated by Susan.

The Telepathic Traveler is designed for fourth to sixth grade students, but teachers from other grades have reported that the book was a successful teaching tool in their classes. In designing her book, Susan used her life experiences to create an imaginative approach to learning, while providing the students with an opportunity to understand other cultures around the world. In this interactive book the students are first introduced to a faceless figure of a boy whose back is turned to the reader. The students are encouraged to “put themselves in the boy’s spot” and become the traveler as they commence their journey, seeing the world through the eyes of the young “traveler” while learning about animals and world geography, and while improving reading and vocabulary skills.??

?Susan has been an active member of Psi chapter in Egg Harbor Township/Galloway, NJ since 1996.?

Her artwork can be viewed at Nashville Studios in Linwood NJ. Her book is available at Northshire BookStore in Manchester Center, VT.?