NEW YORK.- The artist membership of the National Academy is pleased to announce the election of Susan Shatter as new President of the 180 year old institution. A member of the Academy since 1995, Ms. Shatter is a nationally known artist represented by the DFN Gallery in New York, and is currently a teacher at the Academy’s School of Fine Arts. She replaces former president Gregory Amenoff, who has presided over the Academy since 2001.

Born in New York, Susan Shatter studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and earned a BFA from Pratt Institute and an MFA from Boston University. She has taught at Brooklyn College, University of Pennsylvania, SUNY Purchase, and Hunter College and has served on the Board of Governors at Skowhegan since 1978. Susan was represented by Fishbach Gallery from 1972-1999. Recent exhibitions include Lyons Wier Gallery, NY; New York State University, Stonybrook; American Academy of Arts & Letters; Challenging Tradition: Women of the Academy, National Academy Museum; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Corcoran Gallery of Art; and the Phoenix Museum of Art. Her work is included in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Yale University, Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, Smithsonian American Art Museum; University of Utah Museum; Art Institute of Chicago; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She has been awarded numerous prizes including the Massachusetts Creative Artists Award; Ingram-Merrill Foundation Grant; National Endowment for the Arts Grant; Yaddo Fellowship; Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, William & Gertrude Schweitzer Prize and a William Paton Prize, National Academy; and a Hassam Purchase Award, American Academy of Arts & Letters.

“The Academy has played a vital role in the development of the fine arts in America,” according to Academy Director, Dr. Annette Blaugrund, “and the close working relationship between the artists who govern the institution and the professional staff is what makes the Academy museum and art school truly unique. The arrival of Ms. Shatter -- a respected artist whose energy and enthusiasm for the job are welcome-- will continue to strengthen our commitment to providing quality exhibitions from the artist’s own perspective.”

Among the oldest arts institutions in the United States, the Academy today is an honorary association of artists, a museum and a school of fine arts, and includes many of America’s most prominent painters, sculptors, architects, and printmakers among its members. Founding members included Thomas Cole, Rembrandt Peale, and Samuel F. B. Morse, the Academy’s first President. Today, more than 357 contemporary artists are members of the Academy. Elected by their peers, all National Academicians submit examples of their work upon acceptance of the honor. Contributions by the Academy’s artist members including Paul Cadmus, William Merritt Chase, Thomas Cole, Sam Gilliam, Lesley Dill, Richard Meier, Elizabeth Catlett, Louise Bourgeois, Jasper Johns, Winslow Homer, Anna Hyatt Huntington, Jacob Lawrence, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andrew Wyeth have formed one of the most distinguished institutional collections of American art.