In every piece of art, you’ll find a piece of the artist. Discover how Suzy Schultz paints herself her triumphs and rials, hopes and dreams in the curve of the human form. by Katherine Mesch Upon returning from a yearlong mission abroad, Suzy Schultz decided not to return to the life she’d been living. A math teacher from Atlanta, Schultz uddenly realized that she wanted to live a life of creativity. “In Poland, I was exposed to a very different way of life,” she says. “The arts were a part of every day, not just events to be attended. Without being able to buy a lot of material things, people would make things for each other, have parties where they’d share poetry and short films. I don’t think I even realized it at the time, but it inspired something in me about how I wanted to live when I came back” After floundering for a while, tutoring part time and working in a frame shop, Schultz began to do freelance design work at the encouragement of her mentor, Jud Lamos, a friend working in publications at a missionary organization. Six years later, Lamos encouraged her to make another career change, this time to take the bold steps to becoming a fulltime painter. He was about to leave to go on a mission. He said, ‘Do you want to be an artist? Do you want to starve? Is it worth it to you Because you could stay here, and do a lot of typesetting and proofing and maybe even a painting every once in a while. But I don’t think that’s what you should do. You have two months and then you’re gone. You need to be painting full time.’ That was back in November of ‘95. I’ve been painting full time ever since.”

Website: http://www.suzyschultz.net/