Susan Ellen DeWitt, a visual artist and longtime Californian, died on Monday, May 13, in Crescent City. She was 71.
Ms. DeWitt had lived there for the past five months as a resident of Crescent City Skilled Nursing. Before then, she’d lived most recently in Rohnert Park, California. She’d also been a resident of Cotati and Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, as well as Grass Valley decades ago.
The causes of her passing were COPD and the effects from a severe stroke that happened in January 2023.
She was born in Darlington, South Carolina, the daughter of W. Ben and Carolyn DeWitt, and finished high school in Manning, South Carolina. She earned her bachelor’s in English from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and later a B.F.A. in fine arts from Sonoma State University. She was also a Navy veteran, serving during peacetime in the early ’80s with assignments in the States and in Rota, Spain.
Ms. DeWitt had worked in drawing and painting since her teenage years. She pursued it avocationally in her 20s and early 30s before attending the fine arts program at Sonoma State in the latter ’80s. Following that degree, she was briefly an M.F.A. candidate in painting at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where she worked as an assistant instructor of art history.
Though she’d worked in realism, particularly in drawing and when younger, her art became more abstract over the years. Her later pieces had varied imagery, but several tended to include the motifs of spoons and pomegranates. Many focused on feminist issues; one mixed-media piece, “Careful,” was something of an altarpiece with images from the Garden of Eden (before and after the fall) on its sides. The center of the frame was a blond woman applying lipstick in a mirror, with a high heeled shoe in a projected section at the bottom; the shoe was splattered with red paint. A small black panel, affixed to the frame, read “CAREFUL.” It was well-reviewed and sold at exhibition, as did many of her works.
Another piece, “untitled,” was a black and white silhouette of images of herself and her older brother, Bill, as siblings. Taken from a photograph but absent any background elements or figurative details, the painting shows the male figure’s hand atop the head of the female, as if holding her down. The female figure, in a dress, has an extended arm, as if about to dance — or escape.
Other pieces touched on mythology and her younger years in the Southeast.Though primarily a painter, Ms. DeWitt also worked in mixed media, with substances as varied as wood, lead, and jewelry. She stopped showing her work publicly by the early 2000s.
Ms. DeWitt, at times in her life, struggled with depression and substance use disorder. She was also homeless for a time, eventually finding care and some recovery thanks to a program allied with the Petaluma Soup Kitchen in Sonoma County.She is predeceased by her most recent husband, Don Louvier, who died Dec. 28, 2023, and her parents. Her father had been a bank manager and senior vice president at the National Bank of South Carolina and the manager of Jerry’s Truck Stop, both of Manning; her mother had been a school librarian and high school history teacher.
Surviving are four children: Rebecca Courry of Oakland, California; Mike Courry of Novato, California; Robyn Courry Elmosilhy of Santa Rosa; and Sophie Lewinstein of Cotati. Also surviving are two brothers — Bill DeWitt of Lugoff, South Carolina, and David DeWitt of Lewes, Delaware — and two grandchildren, Adam and Joe Elmosilhy.
There will be no services. Donations can be made to the Petaluma Soup Kitchen, Planned Parenthood, or local centers for mental health services.