Fay Shutzer is trained and licensed as a psychologist and holds a Masters and Ph. D. in school psychology, and two postdoctoral certificates in psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy. But from childhood on, Fay has always longed to express herself through art.
Fay grew up on a dairy farm in Massachusetts. An exhibit of her drawings in a youth art show led to a summer job drawing portraits in a restaurant. Yet, in college, though captivated by her studio art classes, she majored in psychology. “I saw myself as ‘artistic’ but not as an artist. Looking back, I wonder how I made the distinction.”
After spending time on Cape Cod, where she was inspired by the landscape, the light and the art community, Fay became a student of artist Anne Packard. Training continued at the Art Students League in New York, and at subsequent workshops. Her landscapes reflect her New England roots and her passion for light on rural buildings, although as a resident of New York City, there is a place for cityscapes as well. She is particularly intrigued by the immediacy of plein air painting, and teaches a summer workshop for plein air painters at the Truro Center for the arts.
