POOLS
July 16 - October 15, 2023
My current group of works I am submitting for application explore artmaking not as an answer, but as an ongoing question. Previous pieces in my body of work sport vibrant color and gritty sparkle, with a blend of flowing linework and frantic forms. These works were birthed from a stressful, turbulent, and uncertain point in my life. Pandemic isolation led to an explosion of colorful expression; conversely, the balance, peace, and love that has begun to fill my life over the past year or so has prompted a shift toward dark, neutral, and slick deviations of my painting style. This change prompts the inquiry into the subconscious motivations of our inner artist. In other words, how does change manifest itself in physical form? How can art production track the stages of ones life? How can exploring the metacognitive nature of creativity lead to a better understanding of ourselves?
MEET THE ARTIST
ARTIST STATEMENT
Shayla Nolan
Educated formally at The College of New Jersey in Art Education and Art History, Shay pulls from her contemporary and historical understandings of visual art and its importance to human thought, emotion, and communication. With a passion for creative endeavors, material experimentation, and the value of visual communication, she seeks to bridge the gaps between the numerous divisions and binaries which exist in the world of fine arts.
Shay believes in the value of exploration, passion, and commitment in artistic practices; by channeling these qualities into the production of visual art, Shay seeks to create an opportunity for viewers to grow closer together rather than continue to drift apart due to the current and growing classist, power-driven nature of the fine arts world. By creating works based on traditional foundations with flair and material use commonly associated with craft, Shay aims to make viewers question the difference between "scholarly" fine art and emotion-based visual explorations, and the societal standards that divide the practice of creative expression.
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a fine artist and art educator working out of northern New Jersey whose works seek to explore the fundamental importance of visual arts in life. Shay seeks to question and blur the lines between high art and craft, traditional study and experimentation and flips the historically masculine connotation of abstract expressionism on its head through shameless and tacky art.