New Artwork: Surveillance

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I took a departure from my textile mixed-media paintings for this piece. When I arrived at Loovlinnak Creative City Artist Residency, directors Al Padrok and Taje Tross generously gave me access to their tools and supplies, including several stacks of paper. Most of it was unremarkable: construction paper, printer paper, and graph paper. But one small stack caught my eye immediately. I could tell it was old and somehow related to typewriters or early computers, and when I asked, I learned it dated to the Soviet occupation. I adopted all of it, just four sheets, one of which had some math scribbled across it in pen.

Research revealed that it is Soviet-era perfokaart: stiff punch cards with holes in specific positions that fed instructions and data into mainframe computers before modern digital storage existed. From the 1970s through the 1980s, Soviet-bloc computing relied heavily on this technology, running the economic planning, industrial control, and record-keeping systems of the USSR, including in occupied Estonia.

I'd already been planning work that referenced Soviet propaganda posters, so the cards were a natural substrate. I cast a black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) as a drone after photographing many of them in flight. The species' limited, high-contrast palette and missile-like profile suited the graphic style of Soviet propaganda posters.

I sketched a range of compositions that played off the perfokaart's holes and contours while keeping that propaganda energy, and landed on a gull flying high, firing a dotted laser beam down into the punched border. I used the scribbled-on card as a stencil for the laser dots.  I kept the first as-is, and then scaled the rest up so the beam widens from a point near the gull into an even band.

This is Surveillance, acrylic on Soviet-era perfokaart (punch card) c. 1978, 8.2x11.75”, 2026.

Shelby Prindaville's painting of a gull cast as a drone on Soviet-era perfokaart.

Pärnu

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After my excursions on my nature and birding tour with Marko Poolamets and my trip to the Applied Arts Fair in Riga, I stayed in Pärnu for the next couple of weeks. While that meant a lot of studio time, it also meant a lot of long walks exploring everything Pärnu has to offer - which is a lot!

On the touristic side, Pärnu’s city symbol is the elephant, and there are concrete elephants strewn throughout the parks and roundabouts, and a large elephant slide is in the sea. There is a quaint Old Town, filled with souvenir stores, fashion shops, and restaurants. My favorite restaurant is a little vegan cafe called Liana Kohvik, but there are a lot of other nice options! There are also multiple malls, where you can get groceries, high end clothing, restaurant meals, and so forth. There are quite a few retailers outside of Old Town, including fabric stores, outlets, and secondhand and vintage shops.

There’s also a lot of beautiful nature! My most scenic walk is is an approximately 5 mile loop through parks and residential neighborhoods down to the protected meadow, out to the beach, along the beach until it ends at the jetty, and then back up and through a park with a sculpture walk. There is always some wildlife to enjoy on that walk, including frogs, birds, and insects. I also really like walking along and across the river.

After almost three weeks and while doing a deep dive online, I discovered an artists’ guild that I hadn’t yet found in Old Town, and I was so confused - but when I went to it, I discovered why: they’ve closed off the whole street for construction for the whole month! With determination, I found an alternate route through back alleys and was pleased I did - it’s got a lot of great artists. There are other arts organizations here as well including the City Gallery and Artists’ House, and the Museum of New Art.

You can click into any of these cropped thumbnails to see the whole, larger images! They’re a mishmash of everything I mentioned above and some extras, like my favorite tree and the cat who demanded a lot of pets while I was eating vegan sushi.

New Artwork: Woven Thresholds

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I’ve been painting red flowers lately, and I intentionally chose to continue that trend since I was building around a component I planned to use from the start: a jacquard folk pattern trim I picked up at Karnaluks OÜ in Tallinn. Once I saw a stand of vivid tulips, the rest of the composition came together..

The process differed from Between Worlds. Here, I painted the floater panel and tulips first, then laid down plastic and painted the lace pattern on top of it. After removing both those layers, I worked through a wide range of compositional options before settling on this angled, mirrored lace overlay. From there I secured the lace, added the trim, then cleaned up and secured the back. This was the second piece I started, but the third to finish! The delay was due to the sequential steps I needed to complete, each of which involved drying/curing periods.

Iconographically, tulips function as shields, threshold filters, and barriers across multiple traditions, a symbolism rooted in their nyctinasty: they close their petals tightly at night or on cloudy days, sealing their core away from cold, damp, and nocturnal threats. That self-protective habit is part of why tulips are believed to draw in positive energy while keeping poverty, bad luck, and hostility from crossing into the home, and why they carry associations of safety within oppressive environments. The lace adds a further veil over the tulips, while the mirrored, overlapping composition contributes a sense of movement and dissonance.

The outer border carries its own layer of meaning: it is a traditional Baltic woven band steeped in regional folklore and protective symbolism. Its color scheme has historically represented life, fire, and an active shield against negative energy. The pattern combines two ancient Baltic symbols: the Cross of Māra, tied to the Latvian goddess of earth and home and read as a sign of grounding and stability, and the hourglass motif, which represents the rhythm of time and the meeting point of the spiritual and physical worlds.

This is Woven Thresholds, acrylic, lace, and jacquard trim on wooden floater panel, 14x11x.5”, 2026.

Shelby Prindaville’s mixed media lace painting of tulips on a floater panel with Baltic jacquard trim.

Riga's Applied Arts Fair

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I knew I wanted to visit the capital of Latvia while I was in the area, as it’s about 2.5 hours away from Pärnu so it’s a doable day trip. When I learned that there was the best traditional crafts fair of the year happening in Riga at the Ethnographic Open Air Museum of Latvia during my stay, I bought my bus and fair tickets right away!

Though Riga is 2.5 hours away, getting to the museum took another 45 minutes or so of waiting and transit, but then I arrived! There were around 150 vendors of various types - basket weavers, woodworkers, ceramists, toy makers, farmer’s market stalls and bakers - and I would estimate maybe 90 of the vendors offered woolen goods including cloth, belts, clothing, mittens, socks, hats, and other accessories. In addition to those stalls, there were three major refreshment areas where attendees could buy food and drinks and port-a-potties were stationed nearby.

The fair was so big that I had to carefully section it as I went through, and it took me about three hours before I was confident I had seen each vendor. A handful of stations also had live demos, and there were also musical performances and a Latvian children’s play happening on a nearby stage.

Though I didn’t buy much due to a combination of minimal luggage space, costs and size of offerings, and the fact that I don’t tolerate wearing wool directly on my skin, I really enjoyed browsing all of the wares. Afterward, I wandered through part of the Ethnographic Open Air Museum. Then I headed back to central Riga by bus, and by the time I arrived, it was already after almost all the museums and shops had shut. I got dinner at a nearby mall food court (a surprisingly delicious meal!), and then hopped on my bus back! I do plan to return for another day trip, since I didn’t really see much of Riga overall beyond the Ethnographic Open Air Museum.

New Artwork: Sower's Shadow

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Wool is ubiquitous here in the Nordic-Baltic region, appearing in many forms: knitted, crocheted, and felted into clothing, mittens, and gloves; accessories like hats, necklaces, and pins; and home goods like placemats, blankets, and children's stuffed animals.

When I came across a felt letter board at a vintage shop in Pärnu, it spoke to me as a viable substrate. I wanted to incorporate wool in some way into my Estonian body of work given its regional importance, and I also liked the idea of converting a familiar mechanism for rigid text-based communication into artwork that through removal of its frame, rotation, and incorporation of organic form brings new associations.

This second finished mixed media painting depicts a rook (Corvus frugilegus). A member of the corvid family (which also includes crows, ravens, and jackdaws), rooks forage on arable land and nest close to farms and villages.

This is Sower’s Shadow, acrylic, molding paste, and matte medium on felt letter board, 11x14.9x.4”, 2026.

Shelby Prindaville's painting of a rook on a felt letter board.

New Artwork: Between Worlds

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My first finished mixed media painting in Estonia depicts a white stork (Ciconia ciconia).

The substrate is antique lace over wood panel. My process involved attaching the lace to the panel, painting the portrait, removing the lace and altering the coloration of the wood panel surface, and then meticulously re-registering and attaching the lace back on top and sealing it down.

These birds are embedded in Estonian rural life: they're associated with summer farms and considered good luck omens. Storks are also important in folklore, as they accompany souls to the underworld and bring newborns into the world as a part of a cycle of death and rebirth in Finno-Ugric mythology.

This is Between Worlds, acrylic and antique lace on wood panel, 14x14x1.5”, 2026.

Shelby Prindaville's mixed media lace painting of a white stork.

My First Days in the Baltics - Helsinki, Tallinn, western Estonia

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I flew into Helsinki, Finland; when I was looking at my flights, I saw they all routed through Helsinki to Tallinn. Since I knew I wanted to visit it during my stay, I figured I’d save on time and ferry costs if I just landed in Helsinki to begin with and then ferried down to Tallinn after a couple of days.

In Helsinki, I visited two different museums (the Architecture and Design Museum and Amos Rex), Temppeliaukio Church, and checked out Hietalahti flea market, Market Square, Old Market Hall), and the Design District. I was lucky enough to get to visit Amos Rex with a former student of mine who was also in Helsinki, so that was quite cool! As I was seeing all the arts and crafts, I noted how much knitting, crocheting, fiber arts, fabrics, and fashion are a part of the design landscape here - particularly that of women. I decided I want to lean into that for my own artwork.

Some general takeaways from Helsinki - the downtown and all associated destinations felt more contained and smaller than I anticipated. There is pretty clearly a decent vegan and vegetarian scene. The tram system is really nice. For whatever reason, Helsinki is like Japan wherein they give you the smallest of cups even for water, so you have to ask for refills constantly. Or you just outright have to pay for water, and even then it’s a tiny bottle. I much prefer the US’s large glass of free tap water approach.

After I was done touring Helsinki, I took the Tallink ferry down from Helsinki to Tallinn, Estonia. The ferry was absolutely enormous, and fortunately it did not set off any significant motion sickness. Once in Tallinn, I hauled my luggage from the port terminal to my hotel and set off on an evening walking loop of the Old Town. Note the seagull-man standoff; they were arguing about whose dinner it was that the man was trying to consume.

The next morning, I headed to Karnaluks OÜ to check out fabric and ribbon options, and had lunch in Tallinn before catching a bus down to Pärnu. After I arrived, I met with the residency directors Taje Tross and Al Paldrok, and they showed me the ins and outs of the residency and nearby neighborhood. I popped out to grab some groceries and then met up for dinner with Marko Poolamets, a Renaissance man. Amongst his many professions, he serves as a nature photographer and tour guide; I had booked the next day with him and his gear. He is also a university professor of marketing, an oral history interviewer, sits on the board of two museums, does environmental science work…

The next morning, Marko and I woke up quite early and went out for a long, delightful day of mostly birding (we were open to other species too, but the birds are plentiful here!). It was lovely to work with him and to get to borrow his gear, including his spotting scope with phone attachment. We spent a full twelve hours touring around a chunk of western Estonia including Matsalu and Haapsalu.

Then the rest of that first week I spent in the studio!

New Artwork: Remnant and Relic

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Here’s my two-piece entry into the Got Ya Covered invitational group competition! I began by sifting through some vinyl records the Morningside music department was willing to let me use, and I settled on The Pride of America: The Golden Age of the American March. This selection in combination with my route forward has environmental and political resonance.

A straightforward painted image on the record ultimately felt too detached from my practice, which focuses on ecology and materiality. I found myself more interested in the record as a petroleum-based artifact of human industry and consumption, and decided to pursue natural degradation and corrosion as my artistic approach.

Below are the the finished pieces!

Remnant, mixed media including layered stains on deteriorated album jacket, 12.5x12.5”, 2026.

Relic, mixed media including patination and surface accretion on vinyl record, 12.1x12.1x.2”, 2026.

Upcoming: "Got Ya Covered" Invitational Group Show at Gallery 103

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You may recall that I have been participating in a themed, multi-venue exhibition and competition each summer here in Sioux City; in its launch in 2024, the theme was game boards, and in 2025, it was puzzles. This year’s theme is album covers and/or vinyl records.

I will be participating in Got Ya Covered as a guest artist at Gallery 103, located on the ground floor of the Ho-Chunk Centre located at 600 4th St, Sioux City, IA 51101. The opening at all participating venues is on July 9 from 5:30-8pm, which will include a coordinated artwalk starting at the Sioux City Art Center. Exhibits will stay up for at least a month!

More Raku Saggar "Faux Pit Fire" Attempts

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You may recall I previously experimented with using raku aluminum foil saggars to approximate pit firing. That first time, I just tried it on one piece of burnished pottery; I liked the results!

At this recent workshop, I did two more. I also added some combustibles I hadn’t yet tried: Miracle Gro fertilizer crystals and Zep Root Kill crystals (copper sulfate pentahydrate). If I were doing actual, controlled experiments, I would test one variable at a time and then combinations of two at a time, three, and so forth. However, I have to pay firing fees for each piece of pottery I take to these workshops, so instead I’m being pretty liberal with my variables.

I strategically placed root kill crystals, Miracle Gro, coffee grounds, banana peel, copper mesh, copper wire, and steel wool in and around the bowl below. This time, I tacked the crystals and powder to the foil and the bowl with hairspray, so it could stay in contact with the interior and exterior sides instead of just falling to the bottom. I wrapped that all fairly tightly with a layer of aluminum foil. Then I poured some salt on and added another two layers of aluminum foil, hoping to get some cool fuming reactions.

I waited to see how the bowl turned out before committing to doing another with this same finishing technique. I admit that I was hoping the new crystals I added would have contributed a wider range of colors, but I nevertheless liked the result.

However, I wanted even more finer carbon marks on my second piece (a plate), so I used the same ingredients and added a small sprinkling of sugar as well. I again put some salt between the first and second layer of aluminum, and it didn’t seem like it required a third foil layer for coverage (it was easier to wrap the flatter form) so it got fired with just two.

I adore this plate - it’s either tied for my favorite piece from this firing or might take first place.

I Recorded a New Podcast Episode for Facetime with Scientists!

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I recorded a podcast episode with From the Lab Bench’s Facetime with Scientists! As of my writing this, the audio version of “Did we evolve to create art?” is available but shortly the video episode should also appear on Spotify, and here’s the YouTube link as well.

Thanks so much to Paige Jarreau for her interest in my work!

New Raku Copper Glaze Pottery

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Since I focused on hump mold pottery for this workshop, I was able to bring a number of pieces with surface texture. In my opinion, I thought copper glazes would be the best choice for those textures! On all of these pieces, I only glazed the top or interior, and left the outside and rim unglazed to carbon trap smoke and become a matte dark gray. I did some planning and sketches ahead of time, and decided I preferred that contrast more than doing a copper glaze exterior as well

I used a variety of glazes both in combination and individually on a couple pieces. They included Tutti Frutti, Blue Copper Flash, Blue Silver Luster, Golden Rainbow, Peacock, Lithium Carbonate and Midnight Luster.

Here is a textured plate with Tutti Frutti on the outer rim and Blue Copper Flash on the inside.

Next is a similar plate, glazed entirely with Golden Rainbow.

This plate was more experimental - I left some geometric shapes that aligned with the texture I imprinted unglazed, so they joined the base and rim in becoming matte dark gray. Then I glazed aligning with the texture again in three segments: Golden Rainbow, Blue Silver Luster, and Midnight Luster.

This is a small, curved dish. I no longer recall what I did with the glazing on this one, but I’m pretty sure it was a mix!

This bowl is the other piece tied for my favorite from this workshop! It has light texture and was glazed on the interior toward the rim with Tutti Frutti and toward the bottom with Blue Copper Flash.

I never know how lithium carbonate will come out - sometimes it’s gorgeous, sometimes it’s meh, and often I over-apply it and undesirable results like blistering occur. I decided to try it on this bowl, and I’m happy that this time I didn’t over apply. I was hoping for one of the radiant, glossy finishes it can do, but it chose a more satin, sedate finish. I still like it!

I refired this large dish after putting a bit more glaze on, as the way the glaze appeared on the first firing was to my mind not pleasing (though others said they really liked it). Though refiring stresses a piece and can cause it to crack or lead to even worse glaze results, in this case it came out whole and I much prefer it in its second evolution!

Clear and White Crackle Raku Ceramics - Stripe Edition

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I decided to try clear crackle atop the wavy Mason-stain striped bowl you can see on the shelf in the second photo in this post. Unfortunately (at least to my mind), the very light pink and lavender stripes went almost completely fugitive in the heat; the orange fared much better, but it means the overall result is not what I had intended!

I still think it’s interesting, though:

I also applied white crackle in an asymmetrical split to this plate, choosing to leave a stripe unglazed so it would carbon trap the smoke in the reduction enviroment:

Mason Stain Obvara Raku Ceramics - Round 2

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I tried out finishing some burnished, Mason stained pottery with the obvara technique in my last workshop, but it turned out the obvara had a difficult time clinging onto the surfaces; I decided to try again with unburnished Mason stained ceramics.

I decided to do three bowls stained a very light pink, a stronger orange pastel, and a stronger lavender pastel. I think the results of those stains were extremely subtle. This was in part because the lavender pigmentation went partially fugitive, the orange is perhaps too akin in hue, and the pink was already barely there and also went fugitive. It’s also because I allowed them to go into the fermented yeast bath right out of the kiln instead of cooling off for a minute or two, and I’ve found that when the pottery is at its top temperature, the majority of the carbonization is usually quite dark. That obviously covers over any underlying stain, but it provides a fuller value range and in the areas where there is minimal carbonization, it leads to high contrast. They’re beautiful obvara bowls, regardless of whether the Mason stains had much impact!

Here is the very light pink:

Next, the orange (note that the lighter areas are a bit warmer!):

Finally, the lavender; interestingly despite the fugitive nature the one that is perhaps the most visible due to the coolness it contributes:

April 2026 Raku Workshop Photos

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I’ll post more about my artwork in subsequent posts, but here are a few photos from the workshop on April 18! Morningside (me and Paul Adamson) brought six community members, and I also invited along a friend from a dance class I take at the Y.

It was a very cold, windy day (at the time of our arrival, it was 31°F) but I had a lot of good luck at this particular workshop and I like most of my finished pottery a lot.

It wasn’t without any bad luck, though. One of my pieces did break, and it unfortunately didn’t go quietly: it exploded while in the kiln (very unusual), sending ceramic shrapnel into several neighboring ceramics, three of which were mine. My own speculation is that I share a studio with students who often are not that careful about recycling clay with foreign material in it, so there may have been a contaminant in that clay body.

Since raku is neither food-safe nor watertight, I feel good about making repairs to surface blemishes since they don’t impact the structure or function. I Dremeled out the fragments, touched up any missing glaze, and sealed the spots with acrylic varnish. On two of the pieces the repairs are genuinely hard to find; on the third they're minor.

Arts for Hearts Festival on Morningside's Campus

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Tomorrow I’ll be participating in a mental health, wellness, and arts festival Arts for Hearts on Morningside’s campus!

I’ll be hosting an art therapy activity involving handcraft art and origami from 10:30-11:30am, and I’ve helped coordinate two other art activities which will be led by art department faculty as well. There will be other programming simultaneously and throughout the festival window too, and this event is free and open to the public!

Preparing for the Next Raku Workshop: Hump Molds!

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A plaster hump mold for a plate.

I’ll be taking a group of nine (including myself) to another raku ceramics workshop at Dakota Potters Supply this weekend!

This semester has been very busy, so I’ve chosen to focus entirely on hump-mold pottery for this workshop. Using plaster hump molds (convex forms over which slabs are placed and pressed) significantly reduces the time required to make raw ware compared to pinch-pot, hand-built construction.

Hump molds also allow me to easily add and retain complex texture particularly to the interior of a piece; when making a pinch pot, the shape comes from pounding, pulling, and tapping the clay with tools that typically leave a fairly consistent surface. I can add texture to the exterior of a pinch-pot bowl or vase after it is built by rolling it over a texture plate or hitting it with a textured paddle, but I can’t do that to the interior. I can always carve texture into both sides or use other techniques if I really want to, but what I’m getting at is that texture is more complicated to add and retain when working in my preferred pinch pot style.

With these plaster hump molds, I can easily add complex surface texture to a flat slab and control whether it appears on the exterior, interior, or both. I then rely on gentle pressure, gravity, and evaporation to shape the clay, rather than the more aggressive pinch-pot methods that diminish or fully remove surface detail.

I am also continuing to experiment with Mason stains and burnishing on a few of the ceramics!

I saved enough time that I actually made more pottery than I think I’ll have time to finish at the workshop, which is a good problem to have. I’ll nevertheless bring it all just in case I’m wrong about that! Below is all the bisque ware I’m bringing with me. I share space with other folks in our ceramics studio, so I’ve crossed out the pieces in the first photo that aren’t mine. In the second photo, you can see the variety of techniques more closely, and the plate I’m holding corresponds to the hump mold pictured above (as do others).

Upcoming: Takt Residency in Berlin, Germany

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I have previously completed multiple summers with two residencies when it was logistically and/or financially efficient to do so. Because international airfare represents a significant portion of the overall expense, the timelines lined up, and the locations are reasonably close, I’m pleased to share that I will be doing another two residency summer!

Following my residency this June at Loovlinnak Creative City Artist Residency in Pärnu, Estonia, I will be undertaking a residency in July at Takt in Berlin, Germany. I’ve been working on setting this up for several months, but though it does save on airfare it nevertheless is of course more expensive than doing just one - so part of the organizing included seeking funding. Fortunately, I was just awarded a Morningside University 2026 Ver Steeg Faculty Scholarship Grant that will partially support these projects (it was a very competitive year, so I was fortunate to be funded at all and did not get the total amount I asked for… but I received enough that I’m able to personally afford the rest!).

I am very excited to get to research and document ecosystems in Baltic and Northern Europe for the first time! My interest list includes Matsalu National Park, Soomaa National Park, the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, Tegeler Fließ, and Grunewald Forest.

German is an easier language to learn for English speakers than Estonian (German is category II, while Estonian is category III), and there is a Duolingo course for it, so I now plan to memorize a few phrases in Estonian but primarily work on my German!

On a personal note, I’ve been repeatedly told by other travelers that Berlin is one of the top vegetarian and vegan meccas of the world. I’m really looking forward to experiencing that firsthand!

A Better Way to Tape Down Paper

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When drawing and painting on paper, artists typically tape more delicate papers down to a board unless that paper comes as part of a pad already. Taping loose papers to boards allows artists to keep the paper flat and unwrinkled while being able to easily move it around and draw on it at more upright angles. (Drawing flat on a table or in an artist's lap can often introduce unintentional perspective distortion, while drawing closer to upright minimizes those issues.)

Note the white tape diagonally placed on top of the corners of the paper. You can click into this to see it more clearly in a larger view!

I don't believe I've ever really been taught how to tape; I think as students we all just convergently evolved similar techniques to tape each corner down at a diagonal. Then at the end of the painting, you peel it back and extend the artwork into those blank corners if necessary.

As a teacher, I did start to tell my students to aim for a small but not tiny amount of corner coverage: too much and you have more to fix at the end, while too little and the paper pulls free from the tape and falls at inopportune moments. I also tell them that if you want the tape to be sticky-but-not-too-sticky, you can press it to your pants or shirt first for easier removal.

While I was doing my first artist residency at Arts Itoya in Japan in June 2024, I used this same taping technique and it damaged several of the delicate washi papers.

To the right, you can see an image of my in-progress Paper Snow in January 2025 with taped corners.

I innovated a new technique during my second artist residency at Arts Itoya in June 2025! The new method is to place a piece of acid-free archival tape onto the back of the paper. That tape can remain indefinitely if the paper is prone to tearing, or can be gently removed if desired, and even if it does cause slight surface damage upon removal, that's happening on the side of paper no one's seeing. Then I place another piece of tape onto the first and extend it out past the edge of the painting so the sticky side is face up. Then I place a piece of tape sticky side down onto that. Here is an image of this taping technique:

Note that the tape is now not touching the face of the artwork at all!

I strongly recommend this new technique for:

  • paintings and drawings on delicate papers

  • paintings and drawings where the media will extend to the corners, so that you don't have to carefully match the markmaking, color palette, etc. afterwards but can just actively address the whole picture plane at once

I'm teaching Painting I this semester, and so I showed my students both options at the beginning of the semester. Most students have chosen to adopt this new method even when dealing with sturdy substrates like canvas paper, due to the second point above.

Judging the 2026 Western Valley Art Conference

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I was invited to judge the Western Valley Art Conference later this week! It’s a large annual regional high school art competition with ten schools participating in the conference from around western Iowa, and this year it will be hosted at Lawton-Bronson High School. I’m really looking forward to seeing all the entries!