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22 | SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | JUNE 2021 | Art League How great is it to be back to a more normal life? We had our first regular meeting in May and it was wonderful to be together again. The next Art League meeting is on Sun., June 13 at 2 pm in the South Clubhouse. After a short business meeting, there will be a Mini Art Show and a demonstration by a professional guest artist. Potential new members are always welcome to attend a meeting to learn more about this group. This month, the Art League member we are featuring is Susan Van Loon, who has won many ribbons in our art shows. She paints mainly in oils but sometimes works with acrylics and charcoal. Susan has led a very interesting and sometimes difficult life. She was born in Hungary and lived in poverty for the first 10 years of her life. At the age of 10, she, her parents, and 11-year-old brother had to escape into Austria as refugees fleeing the Communists during the Revolution in 1956. After a couple of years they were allowed passage into Canada, where her parents were able to get work, go to school, learn the English language, start a printing business, and get their citizenship. There in Winnipeg, Manitoba is where Susan began painting at age 14. When she was 18 years old, she left Canada and moved to Long Beach, CA, where she met her future husband. They married and had a son and two daughters. They moved many times all across the U.S. over the next 20 years. After they returned to California, their 30 year marriage ended in divorce. Fortunately, just two years later, Susan met Steve Van Loon at a "Christian Singles Dance" on board the Queen Mary in Long Beach, and they now have been happily married for 19 years. She and Steve moved to Palm Desert, where Susan joined a painting group and learned more about painting from her talented artist friends. After moving to Sun Lakes six years ago, she joined the Art League, which she has thoroughly enjoyed. Even though she's never taken art classes, she has been commissioned to do many different types of paintings over the years. Susan says "it is a God-given talent" for which she is very grateful. She has a very happy life now with Steve and her family, which includes seven wonderful grandchildren. Susan has written and published a book titled Riches to Rags, which is the story of her mother's dramatic life. Her mother, Anna Szegedi also lived in Sun Lakes for several years before moving to The Lakes and then to Tehachapi. Susan said her parents taught her and her brother that with hard work you can achieve your dreams.