Artist Interview with Penny Shaw
At Clearbrook Center of the Arts on Saturday, September 18, 2021, I worked the gallery with Andrea Castaneda and Penny Shaw. What an opportune moment to conduct an artist interview with Penny Shaw, a fellow PWAS Member. So, I just have to do it...a Penny for her thoughts.
Getting to Know Penny
1. What is the best piece of advice you've been given (and would pass along)?
Do you.2. What is your art background?
I have training in art and art education from undergraduate to graduate
school with degrees from College of the Ozarks in southwest Missouri located
near Branson, Missouri; University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, and at University
Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. I have forty plus years of teaching art, from
pre-school through university level.
My preferred area is drawing
and painting but I am a Jill of all trades - as an art teacher, you have to be.
I have had to master many mediums, techniques and styles in teaching art classes
from glass, clay, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, graphic design and painting
to name a few. Art educators do it all with smiles in hopes of encouraging
their students.3. What does your art say?
I like color and shapes.
4. What work do you most enjoy doing?
Painting or being creative.
5. What are your greatest influences?
I enjoy all art areas but was inspired by the
work of Marcel Duchamp and his exploration of unusual ways of creating art. One
of my favorites of his is Nude Descending a Staircase. I revere a lot of artists with
abstract influences. (Sam Gilliam, Romare Bearden, and Jacob Lawrence) It
creates a buzz in me how you can take something realistic and change it to
blocks of color and shapes that elicits a conversation.6. Does the place you live influence your art?
Yes, well anywhere you live does. When I was in southwest
Missouri, I worked my way through college by selling watercolor paintings of
trees, water, and nature subjects found in the Ozark foothills. I participated
in art festivals there. I pushed to learn how to make crafts and found this experience
was more enjoyable and created a thirst for problem-solving.
7. What keeps you going and why do you do what you do?
I enjoy bringing out the creative spark in
people. I have been retired the last five years and I invite people to join me
for painting virtually or in person. I have a virtual paint class that people join
which is not dependent on the weather. I also invite friends to join me for
paint sessions outside weather permitting.
8. What is your scariest experience in your art life?
Social commentary from the news had a bearing on
my early life as an artist and what I was painting. As you mature your focus
changes. Social commentary had its moment but events of the real world overwhelmed
me because of the negative messages. There were a lot of things happening in
the community that influenced my art and I needed a new voice. I changed to working
with abstraction after a time.
There is so much beauty in
the world, we should be thankful that we are citizens of this nation and have
the opportunity to see the diverse settings from coast to coast.9. What themes do you pursue?
I have started embellishing my painting with line art to help direct the
eye to flow through the paint to see what is there.10. What item in your art studio could you not do without?
A palette knife. It allows you to touch the
canvas and is synonymous with elementary school sensory play with finger
paints. I always want to go back and touch it. I like the textures. I can scrap
it down or build it up. You can have rough or thinly painted areas, much more so
than a brush. Too thin and it streaks. Palette knife can be thinned by smearing.
There are so many things you can do with it.
The palette knife is an extension of your hand -
that's what a tool is anyway.
11. Can you describe a funny experience you've had in your art life?
I
once had a friend that asked me to help with a child's birthday party.
She wanted me to do the face painting. Of course, when you do face
painting, you are not painting the child's whole face, you are usually
painting a small animal or whiskers around the eyes and nose like they are a kitten or puppy. I
had some imagery of animal features or butterflies that I knew I could paint.
Along
came this child who wanted me to paint her as a unicorn. She wanted a
horn painted coming off her forehead. She wanted to BE the unicorn.
Unicorn painting wasn't something I was prepared to do and the child
insisted that I could do it. I tried to talk her into an optional
"special friend" to the unicorn. The kid wasn't having it. She wanted me to
turn her into a unicorn. Here I was sitting there thinking this child
is going to be crying any minute...12. How did you get involved with the gallery and PWAS?
There was a Fall Art Show at Tall Oaks Community
Center. A friend of mine in Dumfries told me about it, so I stopped in. I
stopped by to check out the Prince William Art Society show and met Jim
Gallagher. That was 3 years ago. I joined right away.
Penny working with an acrylic pour as a demonstration. She prefers working pours on larger canvases, but for the purpose of a demo, smaller canvases are used. Larger canvases are sometimes hard to maneuver into her car and many of her pieces are done as diptychs, triptychs, or multiple panels to fill the wall areas of her clients.
Penny's preferences when varnishing or using resin on her acrylic pour paintings leans more toward a matte finish. She wants to see the rawness of the color in its original form on the canvas which allows the viewer to see the textures and clarity of the colors.
Penny enjoys working out on her patio when the weather cooperates.
Penny at her one-man show at Jirani’s Coffee Shop in Manassas, Virginia - below, followed by some examples of Penny's artwork.
"Joy Rising" Diptych 48x48 Acrylic
"Exploration I and II" Diptych 36x24 Acrylic
"Swept Away" Diptych 24x18 Acrylic
It was a nice afternoon with Penny and Andrea and it worked out well as a method of "getting the interview". So, who's next for the artist interview in November?
Local Art: Visit us at Clearbrook Center of the Arts at Tackett's Mill in Lake Ridge, VA on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 – it’s free to see the artwork! Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership
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Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.
Author: Penny Shaw - thank you for your revisions!
Photography/Video Credits:
Penny Shaw's Photos
