Bonnie Switzer earned a B. A. in psychology from Chatham College, a life teaching credential from UC Berkeley and a M. Ed. from the University of Illinois. After a career as a primary school teacher, Bonnie began serious art studies in 1989. She studied at the University of Illinois, has taken workshops from many nationally known artists, and earned an Associate's Degree in Art from Parkland College in 2002. She is an active member of Artisans 10+, a group of local women artists who have exhibits several times a year and meet once a month to critique current work. Her paintings have been exhibited in numerous one-person and group exhibitions and juried shows. Bonnie's work is included in collections at the University of Illinois, Carle Clinic, Northwestern Mutual Insurance Co, Milwaukee, and a large number of private collections. She was awarded the Judy Friedman Memorial Award at the Phillips Gallery, BIG Arts Center, Sanibel, FL. She was selected to be a member of Watercolor USA Honor Society in 2018.
Her paintings are primarily non-objective watercolors and acrylics painted on BFK Rives watercolor paper. The paint is brushed onto slightly wet paper and various materials are pressed into the paint to create interesting textures. To develop the composition, she may add many layers of paint, scratch through the wet paint, or lift out areas of color. Bonnie experiments with various tools and brushes to achieve different effects and compositions. She often adds collage pieces or line work and drawing to the painting. Unlike artists who begin with an image in mind, Bonnie responds to the work as it develops and adds or removes shapes, colors, and lines as necessary to provide balance, rhythm and variety. The shapes that emerge are usually natural, organic forms but are occasionally geometric.
The emotional feeling of the paintings is rooted in their colors and in the energy or quietness of the forms and gestures. The paintings usually do not represent specific objects but illustrate the artist's responses to her world. Bonnie is drawn to images that are both familiar and strange, rendered in colors and textures that please and fascinate.