TRAVELER'S EYE

TRAVELING ARTISTS COMMUNITY

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An Artist Collective Journeying Together Traveler’s Eye is a fellowship of creative wanderers and makers, founded by Susan Cua and composed of artists, illustrators, photographers, and cultural explorers who travel in tandem — physically, intellectually, and artistically. In the spirit of the word “traveler,” this organization embraces movement, curiosity, discovery, and the interplay of home and away as a source of inspiration.

 

Mission. To expand the artist’s eye — by going beyond the studio, stepping into unfamiliar places, soaking in new cultures — and to translate the journey into art. Through shared travel, communal reflection, and individual creation, each member of Traveler’s Eye cultivates a fresh vantage point: not just where we go, but how we see. The group supports one another in capturing the textures of place, the pulse of local life, and the internal echoes those external experiences stir.

 

 Collective trips. Members travel together on curated journeys: city scapes, remote landscapes, cross cultural sites. On the road they sketch, paint, photograph, journal — then return with work that carries the imprint of journey.

 

Shared dialogue. The group meets before and after travels to reflect: Why did we travel? What did we observe? How does a sense of displacement or newness impact creative output? These conversations deepen the individual work and strengthen the community.

 

Exhibition & sharing. The art born out of these travels is shared: in gallery shows, digital portfolios, pop up exhibitions, and collaborative publications. The travel art becomes more than personal—it becomes narrative, offering viewers a “traveler’s eye” into places both familiar and strange.

 

Cultural bridge making. As Susan Cua’s own background (Filipino American, based in Evanston/Chicago) suggests, Traveler’s Eye values cross cultural vision: the idea that the traveler’s vantage both outside and within culture is fertile ground. The organization encourages artists to interrogate culture, identity, place, and movement—especially as global citizens. 

 

Ongoing growth. Membership is not static. Travel, creation, reflection, and sharing form a cycle. As one trip ends, another begins; as one body of work is shown, the next is conceived. The organization offers accountability, inspiration, and connection to keep each artist’s vision lively.

 

Why it Matters. In a time when digital images and instant access are ubiquitous, Traveler’s Eye re emphasizes the embodied experience of travel: the smells, the architecture, the rhythm of a foreign city, the hush of a remote landscape. These moments feed the creative self in a way that stretches and refreshes. Moreover, by traveling and creating as a group, the artists anchor each other—so that solitude of seeing becomes a shared enterprise of meaning making. In Susan Cua’s formulation, it’s not merely “I travel and I paint,” but “we travel, we observe, we create together—and bring these experiences home.”

 

Vision. Over time, Traveler’s Eye aims to become a bridge between cultures, a creative lab of place based art, and a network of artists who do not silo their work in the studio but open it to the broader world. It cultivates artists who are not only adept painters or photographers, but also observant travelers, sensitive to culture, attuned to place, and responsive to difference. The collective invites its members and audiences alike to adopt a “traveler’s eye”—one that sees with curiosity, respect, and wonder.

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