About Suzanne McCourt

Born to be an Artist … Suzanne McCourt’s life as an artist began early. With a mother, grandmother, and numerous family friends deeply committed to an artistic life, she was surrounded by inspiration and willing teachers. Her mom took weekly tole painting from a neighbor, and she would run down to sneak into class. She got the art bug! For as long as she can remember, her childhood home in Oregon had a creative space in a converted garage where her mother taught her to mix colors and allowing her to use “grown-up” artist brushes with Grumbacher oils. Her first public artistic acknowledgment came at the age of 6. A fanciful drawing of her orange and white cat, Carter, lapping up a saucer of milk won her 1st place bike in the statewide Mayflower Milk & Oregon Dairy Farmer’s Association drawing contest. She loved growing up in the rich cultural and natural environment of the Pacific Northwest. Having graduated with a nursing degree in 1980, a paintbrush and palette of saturated color were never out of reach. With a strong foundation in drawing, watercolor, acrylic, and multimedia, Suzanne’s artistic reach is vast.

A Golf Legacy …

Suzanne is the eldest daughter of Richard “Dick” Yost, whose distinguished golfing accolades include being a US Amateur golf champion, 1955 Walker Cup Member, 1957,59 Master's player, and invited guest player by Bing Crosby himself to play in several Pebble Beach ProAM “Clam Bake” Tournaments, now the AT&T Pebble Beach National Golf PROAM. Reaching into her past by tracing her father’s historical golfing roots lead to numerous accolades of her own. In 2010, she was honored to become the first female since 1947 to become the Invitational Artist for the 25th Anniversary of AT&T Pebble Beach ProAm Golf Tournament & published in Cover Stories: Celebrating Tournament Cover Art. It’s no coincidence it is the very tournament in which her father played decades before.

Suzanne takes great pride in a series of works that inspired by her father’s golf legacy, creating connections to her dad’s inner circle of golfing legends like Ben Hogan, E. Harvey Ward, and Ken Venturi. In 2014, Suzanne became the VIP Artist for PGA TOUR HQ 1st TEE at TPC Sawgrass Country Club, FL, and invited guest of President Steve Mona, World Golf Hall of Fame, to the induction of Mr. Venturi. Her late dad’s presence was felt when she met CBS sportscaster, Jim Nantz, as he recited her dad’s accomplishments in 50-70’s. It was here she also met the Venturi family & Jules Alexander, Ben Hogan & Tiger Woods photographer, and created her Hogan Series. In 2016, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am once again displayed her Hogan Series images in The Fairway One Hogan Library & the painting she made for Mr. Venturi.

Art and Music ...

A serious brain tumor health scare helped the artist in Suzanne to recalibrate her purpose and mission, revealing a desire to make deeper connections with her work and audience. With an early interest in watercolor, she found herself in a master's watercolor class with the renowned cartoonist Hank Ketcham (Dennis the Menace), who had known her father from the Pebble Beach Clambake days; another a profound connection to her father. He encouraged her pursuit of a deeper connection to meaningful imagery with the musician series she had just started. Utilizing a variety of materials and multi-faceted layers of color, shape, and abstract elements, her very successful “GuitarMan” series was born. (2000) With great success the universal language of music and the images of musicians seemed to resonate across varying markets and audiences. Music plays a significant role in her artistic process, often singing, dancing and playing music in her studio to inspire her creative voice.

In 2016, with "GuitarMan" and a variety of other musically inspired works, The Blues Foundation & The Blues Music Awards honored Suzanne as the Official Artist for their annual gala event at the Memphis Convention Center, honoring legends each year as the great B.B. King, & 2016 induction of Elvin Bishop & John Mayall to Blues Hall of Fame, joining past inductees Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, and Muddy Waters.

Suzanne has been published in many magazines and books such as full-length feature in Acrylic Artist Magazine, AcrylicWorks, The Artist’s Magazine, International Acrylic Artist Magazine. As a full-time working artist, she still loves to open her studio doors each year to a local and international following during the annual Open Studios in her hometown of Santa Cruz, California.