Susan Faust

I paint from a place of mystery. My paintings and drawings are records of times and places from inner experience. They are not planned, they are not about thought or intent. They are products of allowing my knowledge and experience as a painter and as a human being to express itself. This is a process of trust, of being in the process only, without concern for controlling the outcome. I seldom see where a piece is going until the final brush stroke or line is down. I see line, rhythm and movement as the elements most important for me in my work. Drawing remains the most natural process for me. After a lifetime as an artist, I see all of the work I have ever done being synthesized into a description of pure expression through movement and memory. I love dancing with the paint. The joy for me is seeing things that I have never seen before- small passages of paint interacting with canvas and other paint and line and motion. It is the excitement and power of the experience that moves me. The process feels like music to me. My goal is to allow the painting to sing and have its own voice. This is why each piece is so unique. They are individual songs. They are not about meaning, but are about mystery.

Susan Faust has had a lifetime love affair with making art. She has spent more than 40 years as a professional artist working in several different mediums. Susan graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1973 with a BA in Fine Art. Upon graduation, she pursued a career as a professional ceramicist and production potter. She was a recipient of an Artist-in-Residence grant from the state of West Virginia for two years. But, thousands of pots later and hundreds of craft shows behind her, her real passion for drawing and painting was going unfulfilled. One day, Susan walked out of her studio and never went back. She packed up and moved to Sedona, Arizona, in 1987, becoming the director of the Ceramics department at the Sedona Art Center while continuing to study painting with some of the most gifted artists in the country. Susan went on to become a successful pastelist and plein air oil painter and has taught workshops and classes in painting around the country, Europe, and Australia. She is the recipient of numerous awards in American and International exhibitions, and her work hangs in corporate and private collections internationally. Susan was a featured plein air pastel artist in the PBS television series, The Artist's Workshop, and was a featured artist in Pastel Artist International Magazine. Susan is represented in Santa Fe by Hat Ranch Gallery and Howard Mandville Gallery in Seattle. She lives in Santa Fe.

2-D, Drawing, Painting (all materials)