As you can probably surmise, I tend to post a week or so after whatever it is I’m doing. It takes time to process photos, write up posts, title and measure artwork, and so forth. It’s also nice to space out new artwork posts, so that online viewers have time to appreciate each one! This means that though I’ve only published three finished pieces and covered three weeks here in blog entries so far, I’m actually part of the way through my fifth week and have finished six pieces of artwork with two more in progress… and my solo show is rapidly approaching.

Below are the show details and statement, for anyone who happens to be in Athens!

“Athenian Habitat” by Shelby Prindaville

Exhibition dates: 15 – 22 July 2023 at Phoenix Athens Gallery, Asklipiou 89, Athens, Greece

Reception: Thursday 20 July 2023 19:00-22:00

Shelby Prindaville is interested in the human role in shaping an ecological balance and creates art pieces centered on the beautiful fragility and resilience of the natural world. Her interdisciplinary art practice demonstrates the joy of contemplative engagement with nature as well as provides a taste of the sorrow a disconnect with nature can bring. 

Shelby encountered each of the animal and plant species depicted in her paintings on Mount Lycabettus during a sequence of hikes undertaken throughout her residency, and drew additional inspiration from ancient Greek ruins; the Greek history of conquest, influence, and cultural fusion; urban construction materials; Athenian museums’ broken artifact presentations; a spotting scope’s field of view; the etymology and mythological background of the Eurasian sparrowhawk’s scientific name; and the law of conservation of energy. 

While in residence at Phoenix Athens, Shelby has been working with new-to-her materials that have been locally or regionally sourced – concrete, broken segments of marble and paving stones – and in some cases, historically meaningful: papyrus and 19th century antique tiles.  These materiality explorations and her desire to give her finished pieces their best chance of long-term archival stability have necessarily involved experimentation and occasional failure or redirection.  She has visited two sandblasting facilities, used an angle grinder for the first and several subsequent times with a variety of different heads and attachments, tried out crackle paste, and limited herself to a color palette inspired by archaic natural pigments.

Shelby Prindaville is the Art Department Chair, Gallery Director, and Associate Professor of Art at Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa, USA.  Her studio practice combines her interests in the sciences and art.  She has been selected as a World Wildlife Fund tour artist, was invited to be the first-ever artist in residence at a veterinary school in the United States, and has previously completed twelve other artist residencies.  Her website artbyshelby.com displays her work across a wide variety of art disciplines including painting, mixed media, relief, sculpture, ceramics, and interactive installations.