Upcoming: Artist Talk at the University of South Dakota

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I’ve been invited to give an artist talk at the University of South Dakota (USD) in Vermillion, South Dakota on Monday, November 18th at 2pm in the Warren M. Lee Center for Fine Arts! This event is open to the public - if you’re interested in attending, here is the Facebook event page for it.

Both beforehand and afterwards, I will hold studio visits with individual students, and later in the semester will guest curate USD's Fall 2024 Student Art Exhibition, which will have its reception on Thursday, December 12th from 6-8pm at Cee Cee's Gallery in Vermillion, South Dakota.

I’m very excited to connect with the USD art students, faculty, and community in each of these ways! Many thanks to USD’s Associate Professor of Art Amber Hansen for these invitations.

Week 4 of the Arts Itoya Residency

In my last week, our shows and artist talks were scheduled to take place on Wednesday, June 26th from 2-6pm. I was completely studio-focused in the days leading up to the reception, and I managed to get six paintings up for display; however, the sixth one wasn’t quite finished yet so I planned to continue to work on it at home. I’m pretty pleased with this amount of production in a four-week residency, though I definitely bolstered it by coming a week in advance to get over my jet lag while purchasing art materials and gathering reference experiences and imagery!

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We had already packed up everything in the studio aside from the displayed artwork in order to host the reception on the 26th. I was departing on the morning of the 29th for Kyoto, and needed to ship my luggage to Tokyo before that. It seemed silly to me to revive my studio practice given all those details, so after the show ended, I deinstalled my artwork and took it and all my studio materials back to the house.

Then on the 27th, Emily and I visited Arita! Takeo-onsen, the town which hosts the Arts Itoya residency, is located in Saga prefecture in Kyushu (the southwestern Japanese main island). Saga prefecture has three particularly famous porcelain towns: Arita, Imari, and Karatsu, and I wanted to visit at least one of them! In terms of the porcelain produced, I like both Arita and Karatsu in terms of aesthetics (Imari porcelain is a little too ostentatious for my taste). Arita is much closer to Takeo than Karatsu, so it was the better choice for a day trip in terms of both time and cost. We first stopped at their ceramic museum, and then walked to a famous studio called Kouraku Kiln. After that, we walked to the major porcelain shop center Arita Sera and ate lunch. We then visited a LOT of porcelain stores (we probably visited about 50, but I think there might’ve been 100 there). I’ve never seen such a large, single-subject shopping district before and I am pretty confident it’s impossible to take in all at once; there’s too much to look at and our feet were also voicing complaints. There was so much to see that we barely bought anything due to the mental overload, the very real luggage size/weight limitations, difficulties in transporting fragile ceramics, and the fact that we’d already bought some ceramics from a store in Takeo; we stuck to small items only. I bought a gift and four pieces, and Emily bought two gifts and two pieces.

On the 28th, we visited Nagasaki. My former colleague Masa Watanabe had urged me to do so, and Hiro seconded the recommendation. We made our first stop at their prefectural art museum, and then went to lunch before checking out their very small Chinatown and then wrapping up at a Buddhist temple, Fukusaiji. That evening, Hiro helped me ship my two large pieces of luggage to my Tokyo hotel with Yamato Transport. And with that, my last week at the Arts Itoya residency came to a close!

"Art Under Review" Regional High School Exhibition Judge

The head art teacher for the Sioux City Community School District reached out to me last year and asked if we would be willing to host a competitive art show in Morningside’s Eppley Art Gallery for three regional high schools’ artists: North, East, and West High Schools. Each high school’s art teacher would select the entries, and then I was asked to judge the pieces and award prizes as well as provide a critique of the artwork for the students.

I enthusiastically agreed! The show, Art Under Review, has been on exhibition in Eppley Art Gallery from the beginning of the spring semester on January 10. I will be announcing awards and critique feedback on January 31. The visiting student artists will also get to attend an art workshop and take a campus tour. The show will continue through February 2, 2024.

My Upcoming Northwest Iowa Group Sierra Club Presentation!

The Northwest Iowa Group Sierra Club invited me to give an artist lecture about my ecologically-focused studio practice at their upcoming Tuesday, March 28th meeting!

My presentation will be from 6-7pm with a Q&A and reception afterwards, as a small selection of my paintings and 100% wild, site-specific ceramics will be on display and I will offer prints, greeting cards, and magnets for sale. My friend and colleague Terri McGaffin will be giving my introduction and helped organize this event along with Jeanne Bockholt. I’m excited to share and discuss my work with this environmental conservation organization!

This event will be held at the First Unitarian Church located at 2508 Jackson St in Sioux City, IA. This programming is free and the public is encouraged to attend. 

(If you’re available earlier, they’ll be hosting a potluck from 5-6pm as well in the basement - I’ll be there too!)

I'm a Moral Leadership in Nontraditional Spaces Panelist at NC State University!

I was generously invited to fly out this week to NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, to serve as a Moral Leadership in Nontraditional Spaces panelist for their Honors Village and Forum.

They believe that my interdisciplinary, ecologically-focused artwork and professional practices embody moral leadership, but that many people don’t necessarily think of people like me first when conceptualizing or discussing moral leadership - hence the “nontraditional spaces.” I’m excited to see where our discussions and Q&A take us!

The dates I was asked to attend just happened to line up with Morningside’s spring break, so while all the panel activities are happening today (Monday, March 6th), I’ll also be a guest participant in an honors philosophy course later on in the week and plan to explore Raleigh, too, before returning home!

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An advert from NC State University promoting Shelby Prindaville’s Moral Leadership in Nontraditional Spaces Panel held for their Honors Village and Forum

Concordia High School Pause PAWS Speaker Event and Radio Interview

Below is the YouTube video of my speech given on Friday, February 17, 2023 in the Pause PAWS notable alumni speaker series at Concordia High School (CHS), and here’s a link to our KNCK radio interview, embedded into the NCK Today article, “Professional Artist and Educator Shelby Prindaville Presents to Concordia High School Students.” My solo show in the Frank Carlson Design Room is in connection with this speaker event.

I wasn’t expecting to receive any gifts, so when the CHS Student Council President Jenna McFadden presented me with a framed honorary letter with an explanatory plaque at the end of my speech (see the photo in the NCK Today article image below), I was surprised and humbled! I had a great time connecting with the CHS student body, got to see some great student artwork (one such talented artist is Daegan DeGraff - check out her Facebook artist page!), and really appreciated getting to work with Brandt Hutchinson and his colleagues in this community service.

NCK Today Coverage of Solo Show and Guest Speaker Event

I grew up in Concordia, Kansas, and attended high school at Concordia High School (CHS). Recently, CHS Career and Community Coordinator Brandt Hutchinson reached out and invited me to join their notable alumni speaker series called Pause PAWS.

I agreed as long as we arranged for an exhibition of my artwork at the same time; if I’m going to be speaking about my career as a professional artist, it is important to me that the audience has a chance to see my artwork firsthand. Brandt immediately coordinated with the Frank Carlson Library to host a solo show in the Frank Carlson Design Room.

The show installation, opening reception, and lecture are all coming up this week! Here’s the first piece of press about it, via NCK Today. As the article shares, “Shelby will be speaking to current Concordia High School students from 9 am to 9:30 am on Thursday, February 16th in the historic CHS Auditorium.  The presentation will be live-streamed for the general public by Chris Stiles' high school video production team on their YouTube channel, USD 333 Media Productions.

The Frank Carlson Library will be hosting Shelby's art exhibit from February 17th to March 3rd.  The public is welcome to meet the artist by attending the opening reception for the exhibit from 5 pm to 6 pm on Thursday, February 16th at the Frank Carlson Library.”

My LSU Vet Med Exhibition and Opening Reception!

Here are photos from my solo exhibition and opening reception at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, co-sponsored by the LSU School of Art! The reception was amazing; over 80 people attended and they were all very engaged throughout the evening. We began with a welcome speech delivered by LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Dean Oliver Garden, followed by speeches from LSU College of Art + Design Dean Alkis Tsolakis and LSU School of Art Director Rod Parker, and then my artist lecture!

By the end of the evening, 6 of the 8 paintings/relief/sculpture were sold (only Hosts and Singularity remain available), and 3 of the 13 ceramics were purchased in addition to countless prints and greeting cards. Through the course of the rest of the exhibition, 3 more ceramics sold along with additional prints and greeting cards. I was a little surprised at how popular the mosquito reproductions were as they sold out quite quickly, but I’ve since learned there’s a well-known joke that mosquitoes are the state bird of Louisiana!

In the slideshow, you’ll see that in addition to the artwork walls and reproduction sales table, I also had a display table of some of the veterinary materials - medicines, chemicals, stains, tools, bones - I used in each of the pieces of artwork!

My Upcoming LSU Vet Med Artist in Residence Exhibition Details!

The show poster and details have been released for my LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Artist in Residence exhibition, co-sponsored by the LSU School of Art! Here’s the LSU College of Art & Design’s event page for it, and below is a copy of the image and text.

Artist-in-Residence, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine
July 25, 2022 5:30-7:30 p.m.
LSU Vet Med Library
LSU School of Veterinary Medicine presents the art of Shelby Prindaville, and invites you to a lecture and reception featuring our inaugural Artist-in Residence. The lecture, exhibition opening, and artist’s reception will be at LSU Vet Med Library and is co-sponsored by LSU School of Art.

Guest Lecture in Advanced Drawing Workshop at LSU

Recently, I was invited by my mentor and former professor Kelli Kelley to guest lecture via Zoom in Louisiana State University’s ART 4889 Advanced Drawing Workshop! It was fun to get a chance to catch up with Kelli and to virtually meet LSU art upperclassmen and graduate students.

La Pedrada de Noemi Residency Journal 6

Sorry for the break in updates - I ended up being in several places without internet as I'll be discussing!  Anyway, back to the journal...

It turned out Sunday ended up not being so good for Sella either, and I had gotten wrapped up in a painting, so I had another studio day.  Then Monday was spent getting ready for the solo exhibition Noemi had arranged for me in La Casa Museo Orlando Hernandez (The Orlando Hernandez House Museum); we got the keys to the place from the local government and scoped it out, prepared the exhibition room, and got double-sided mounting tape to help secure my pieces to the walls.  Tuesday evening was my opening, but that morning Noemi had arranged for me to visit the northern part of the island's recycling center for a tour as a part of a group (she had originally planned to come as well, but ended up needing to sit for state exams that day).  I was a little skeptical of how interesting it would be and also had yet to install the artwork or shop for the reception refreshments, but Noemi said she thought it would take around an hour and really wanted me to go.  So I went!  It actually took three and a half hours, and only about half an hour of it was interesting (touring the actual facilities).  The other three hours involved watching videos and protracted lectures and Q&As about the importance and minutiae of recycling - in my case, at least, preaching to the bored choir.  But I got back with - just! - enough time to eat lunch, install my artwork, and run to SPAR to buy some refreshments.  The reception went well, and then the rest of the week I babysat the exhibition (with no internet) and started some new pieces from within the exhibition itself - a sort of performance art in its own way!  On Friday I did an artist lecture and a demo of QuickCure Clay, and then later on another exhibition opened up in an adjoining space, and their reception also flooded over into mine and I had a hopping second reception-of-sorts as well.

Over the weekend Noemi took me to the north to see the towns of Arucas and Gáldar, and we visited the Painted Cave museum, where we got a chance to glimpse aboriginal cave paintings from a carefully monitored chamber so as to attempt to preserve what's left of the paintings after severe degradation from tourists during the late 70's and 80's.  Noemi also thought I should try paragliding, so she arranged for a friend to take me up in a tandem parachute!  I'm up for new things, so I did it, and I'm glad I had the experience - but I didn't enjoy it very much.  I get pretty motion sick, and the turning and swooping set it off quite strongly.  I also got bored with it after the first few minutes - we just sort of looped back and forth over the same bit of land, and once I'd taken it in... the views were extremely similar to what you'd see out of an airplane, so it felt more normal than I would've thought.  I love scuba diving, though, and I know that is not everyone's bag, so I'm still pleased I gave paragliding a go.  On Sunday we visited the Maspalomas area so that I could see the sand dunes, which were beautiful, and I got a taste of the Maspalomas beach as well which is a tourist hotspot (it turns into Playa del Ingles, which is the most well known) and was absolutely crammed with people.  I prefer the beach at Las Canteras in Las Palmas or in Arinaga, honestly.  Then we went up to see Sella, finally, and her place was great!  She runs a retreat center called EcoTara where groups with instructors book in to run yoga and other health and lifestyle retreats.  We spent a lazy afternoon there, and the drives along the way both coming and going were spectacular as well.

Then we took my show down (the other exhibition in the adjoining space kindly babysat mine as well over the weekend), and I went down to Arinaga to rejoin Silviu, who had been busy scoping out opportunities for me to have a second exhibition down there, because he's just that lovely of a person.  We spent the next day figuring out where I'd have the second show, and La Canela y Hierbabuena said they'd love to have me.

Intercambiador ACART Residency Journal 2 Photos

Here are photos from my second journal, including my artist presentation and my trip to Toledo!

Intercambiador ACART Residency Journal 2

On Sundays in Spain, many shops are closed.  There is, however, a giant market that is held every Sunday called the Rastro.  It spans many city blocks, with tents selling various types of clothing, books, movies, magazines, antiques, jewelry, and more.  Various bars and bakeries in the Rastro stay open as well to cater to the crowd.  I told Fari we had to go there my first Sunday (which was my seventh day in Madrid), since she hadn't even heard of it.  We went to the La Latina metro stop on Line 5 of the metro, and entered the Rastro.  Fari thought she would want to shop for different things than I did, so we set up a time to meet back at the metro stop and then parted ways.  Since I knew I would come back perhaps every Sunday or at least several more, I mostly just browsed and took stock of what was offered in multiple places and what was more unique.  By the time we met back up, I'd only purchased a small antique Spanish tile - I spent six euro on it.  Fari had purchased a few things, though, including a decorative Indian sheet, a pair of pants, and a loose housedress.  I had gotten to our meeting place slightly before her and had time to check my phone for any vegetarian-friendly places nearby, so for lunch we went to a small place called Pura Vida.  I really liked it - they give you a free tapas plate of vegetarian paella with a drink order and we also split a trio of salads with bread.  

The following day was when Intercambiador ACART held our artist presentations, wherein interested members of the public can come listen to us talk about our artistic practices.  Fari and I were joined by a South American artist named Tamara who has a studio space in the newly opened studio we visited a few days previously.

After another day in the studio (I'd spent a fair amount of time there already in the previous days), Fari and I took a day trip to Toledo.  I've been there before back in 2007, but it was great to see it again.  We spent most of the time there taking in the huge cathedral (with artwork by a number of great artists including El Greco), eating lunch, and just wandering and shopping around the streets between the cathedral and the downtown square.  Fari and I ate and shopped independently, mostly because she was starving and left the cathedral earlier than I wanted to so she could get food.  I ate at a vegetarian restaurant called Madre Tierra which I had googled, and had a very experimental salad with a frozen goat cheese that basically tasted like normal ice cream.  It was interesting and I am glad for the experience but I wouldn't reorder it!  We did manage to quickly poke around the monastery right toward the end, though, and there was some sort of honoring of recent doctoral candidates happening which was quite neat.  Neither Fari nor I are great with directions, though, and we also had to locate and catch a bus back to the train station, so we headed back.  In the end, we didn't get lost and we caught our bus right away, so we got to the train station way too early - a little less than two hours early!  But our feet were sore, most of the tourist attractions and even some of the shops start to close around when we left anyway, and it's better to be early than miss your train!

Cerdeira Village Residency Journal 6

Starting on Wednesday through Friday, artists piled into the shared house Julia and I were staying in so that they could set up for the festival (which officially began on Thursday but really truly started on Friday).  In the end, I think we housed more than 16 people in the house, and 7 in our room!  It was really packed and we had to take shifts in the kitchen.  The festival, called Elementos à Solta (Art Meets Nature), took place throughout the village from Thursday through Sunday and involved ceramics as well as fiber arts, wooden pieces, motion-sensing installations, and more.  There were additionally workshops for art novices in the mornings and scheduled theatre and music performances in the evening.  I really enjoyed a stage performance by eight ceramic artists; it was the first theatre piece I've seen that was really nevertheless as much a studio art performance piece.

Many of the displaying artists come to the festival every year (and this was the festival's twelfth year) so they all knew each other very well, but they were also extremely welcoming to Julia and me.  I found a mix of Spanish and English tends to be decently understood by most Portuguese speakers, which was helpful.  We were provided meals during the festival (usually on the residencies I attend you make your own food) and the cooks very kindly made vegetarian fare available each time, which I found very thoughtful.

The festival wound down on Sunday, and Julia left early that afternoon (her installation will remain up until nature has its way with it - perhaps through the winter!) after we finished our scheduled artist presentation.  I grew very close to Julia during our time there, and it was very sad to have her leave.  It also meant my own time to leave was drawing near; I had decided to take a bus from Coimbra to Madrid the following morning.  I had planned to try to use a sort-of legitimized hitchhiking (car-sharing) service, but no one was making the trip the day I needed to go.  I then considered flying, but within-Europe flights don't provide any free checked or carry-on luggage beyond a small bag, and I have two big suitcases with me so it would have been too costly.  The bus was only a few hours longer and was significantly cheaper.

Packing my sculptures took about two hours; I actually packed them about three times trying to get the packing materials to support and protect the pieces.  I have no idea if the sculptures' fragile branches will be in fragments by the time they reach the US; I tried my best, though!  I needed to mail them from Portugal because since I had two suitcases and a backpack already, I didn't have the hands to also carry a large box along.  On Monday morning, Nuno and I went to the post office and mailed my box out (fingers crossed!) before he dropped me off at the bus station.  The trip from Coimbra to Madrid was thankfully uneventful, and the bus driver of the second bus (we had to change buses very early into the trip to connect with the Spanish line) stopped several times such that we could avoid using the bus toilet - I was very appreciative of that!  We did stop at the Spanish border and police came aboard and checked passports; I was a little surprised about this because one of my international students said the borders are not really controlled for ground traffic between EU countries.

A Photo Gallery from My LASM Exhibition Trip

I have a few more photos to share from my LASM exhibition and associated demos/events!  This was a fantastically fun trip, all thanks to the amazing Dr. John Pojman.

Video Clip of LASM QCC Demo

I have a full schedule of demonstrations, lectures, and interviews for the next couple of days associated with the Polymers in Art Through the Centuries exhibition going on at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum (LASM) - the first took place earlier this evening!  An LASM public relations staff member posted livestream video to Facebook throughout the night - here's a snippet:

Polymers in Art Through the Centuries Exhibition at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum

My collaboration with Dr. John Pojman and his company 3P (Pojman Polymer Products) has led to my exhibiting in this amazing show!  Polymers in Art Through the Centuries is a fantastically interesting exhibition held at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum (LASM) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Polymers in Art Through the Centuries opened today!  Its show dates are March 4 - June 4, 2017, and it is held in the Soupçon Gallery in the LASM.  For information about the LASM hours of operation and cost of admission (though please note that there are a number of free admission days), please check this link out.

I will be demonstrating 3P QuickCure Clay and discussing my work with the sculptural and relief medium along with Dr. John Pojman onsite at the LASM during their Art After Hours: The Substance of Art event on Thursday, March 30, 2017 from 5:30 - 7:30pm.  Other artists including Monica Zeringue, violist and composer Christian Frederickson, and local dance company Of Moving Colors will be contributing to the evening as well, and A Work in Process: Paintings by Gustave Blache III and It’s Academic: A Hands-On Art Experience will also be open for viewing.  Complimentary wine and appetizers are included with admission, which is $7.50 for adults, $5.50 for college students with ID, and free for members.

Newspaper Articles in Catalan about Bòlit Artist Presentation

Somewhat belatedly, I thought I'd share two newspaper articles published in the Diari de Girona in Catalan about the artist presentation I took part in at the Bòlit Centre d'Art Contemporani in Girona, Spain.  

Els quatre artistes becats pel Bòlit amb residència presenten els projectes

Un becat pel Bòlit «reviurà» cinc edificis desapareguts de Girona

Nau Côclea Residency - Log 7

The day after the party I slept in late (the party went into the wee hours of the morning) and then spent the rest of the day in the studio.

Then the next day was the artist presentation at the Bòlit. Centre d'Art Contemporani so we went into Girona a little early (Clara had errands, and I wanted to buy lunch instead of making it - sometimes I get a little tired of only having one burner total to cook with; no microwave, no oven, no toaster, not even multiple burners and just want someone else to make me food) and did our own things for a while.  I was supposed to meet up with Clara at the Centre at 6:30pm in advance of our 7pm presentation, but I got myself really confused despite being in basically the right area and spent over twenty minutes frantically pacing about trying to figure out where to go.  I finally made it, and was really pleased that we had decided to give ourselves that buffer of time so I wasn't late!

The presentation was quite interesting; there were several different artists presenting, and one of them was Kubra Khademi.  She's a really young performance artist who is currently seeking refugee status in France after being aggressively pursued and threatened in Afghanistan following her now well-known Armor piece.  She's basically existing until finding out her immigration status by living in artist residencies around southern Europe with the help and goodwill of the hosts.  I would find not having any money or close friends or family for support to be extremely stressful, so I hope her situation resolves in her favor soon.

The following day was another studio day.  I'm happy with the pieces I'm working on, but my productivity on this residency is a little frustrating.   I think it's necessary due to my experimentation with new techniques and media, but at the same time, I typically make about ten watercolor pieces on a month-long residency, and it looks like I'll be hopefully making five acrylic(+) paintings here.

Artist Presentation at the Bòlit. Centre d'Art Contemporani

Tonight I will be presenting my residency work at the Bòlit. Centre in Girona, Spain.  Here's the announcement page, with an excerpt below in the original Catalan (edited slightly as they accidentally reported my birth year as 1996, which I have corrected below):

Presentació de projectes dels artistes Ferran Cardona (Bòlit), Shelby Prindaville (Nau Côclea),  Kubra Khademi (La Muga Caula) i Job Ramos (Casa Forestal de Sant Martí d'Empúries)  i de dues noves convocatòries: Beca Brack/Nau Côclea/Singcat i ETAC 2016

Dijous 25 de juny, 19 h
Bòlit_StNicolau

Shelby Prindaville (Kansas, EUA, 1986) és una artista visual i directora del Programa d'Art de la Saint Mary University a Leavenworth, Kansas que treballa principalment pintura i dibuix, encara que també fa incursions en tècniques mixtes, l'escultura i la instal·lació. Interessada en el paper de l'ésser humà en la construcció d'equilibri ecològic i en crear imatges centrades en la bella fragilitat i resiliència del món natural, Prindaville treballa amb el seu entorn més immediat i documenta les ecologies internacionals com a manera d'ampliar el seu propi món i el dels seus espectadors. La seva obra combina temes i ambients abstractes relacionats amb les descobertes científiques i propers a les il·lustracions taxonòmiques i de descripció zoològica. A les seves peces intenta, literalment i simbòlicament accentuar la delicadesa i la immanència de la natura, amb l'objectiu de connectar amb l'espectador i interactuar-hi emocionalment.