Artist Susan Faust is an abstract expressionist oil painter who has had a remarkable career spanning four decades. She has had many solo exhibitions, and has work hanging in corporate and private collections. Susan received her BA in ceramics and paintings with graduate studies at The University of Delaware. Susan spent her first years after graduation as Artist in Residence for the State of West Virginia . She was charged with setting up and running community ceramics classes throughout the state. At this time Susan exhibited widely with her own work  becoming on of the most successful Master potters in the Southeast. But still driven to paint she moved to Sedona Arizona in 1987 and became the Director of the ceramics department at the Sedona Art Center. While running the department Susan continued to pursue her passion for painting and studied with some of the finest painters in the country. During that time she exhibited in many national exhibitions and galleries. She taught pastel, watercolor, and plein air oil painting as well as ceramics during her time in Sedona.

Deciding to dedicate her full attention to landscape plein air painting Susan moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1999. She spent the next ten years single mindedly focused on painting the landscape and specifically “en plein aire” in pastel in oil. Susan was represented by some of the most prestigious  galleries in Oregon and Washington and continued to teach workshops locally, as well as in France and Australia. She traveled and participated and plein air events across the west.

In 2013 Susan took the bold step of changing paths and started focusing on non representational painting. “I felt like I learned so much about light, color and especially about movement while painting on location that I wanted to find a more personal expression. I didn’t want to describe what I was seeing anymore.I wanted to express what I experienced while in the landscape. I turned to a non representational approach to focus on the things that fascinated me about those experiences. I also came to love the medium, oil paint. I feel that the paint itself speaks a language and knowing what it can do is endlessly fascinating. Being immersed I the sensuousness and possibilities of oil paint are as much a part of my process as the marks.” Her work has evolved but maintains a thread of the elements that have always reflected her passion for art and for the landscape- rhythm, movement, and a lyrical energy that comes from a constant shift of elements in the natural world.

Susan returned to the Southwest in 2018 and now lives in the light and beauty of the high desert near Santa Fe, New Mexico. She continues a vigorous pursuit in creating expressive , and uniquely personal work. Susan is the recipient of numerous awards in American and International exhibitions and is a featured plein air pastel artist in the PBS television series, "The Artist's Workshop". She has had numerous solo shows. She was a featured artist in the June, 2000 issue of Pastel Artist International Magazine. Susan has taught classes and workshops throughout the country and in Europe and has taught as an invited international instructor in Australia. She was a juror for the International Art Prize from 2015- 2017 and is a member of Oil Painters of America, The Pastel Society of America ,The Northwest Pastel Society, the Taos Abstract Artists Collective and The National Museum of Women in the Arts.