June 2026

Exhibition at the Pärnu Keskraamatukogu (Central Library) Gallery!

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My posts about my artwork necessarily are created after I finish them, and frequently more time passes to allow me to properly photograph and color correct the image, because I’m deciding between title options, in order to space my posts out a bit instead of posting in clumps… which is all to say that I actually managed to finish my first five paintings by June 17, even though they weren’t all online yet.

On June 18, residency director Taje Tross asked the Pärnu Keskraamatukogu (Central Library) if they would be willing to host an exhibition of my work sometime before I left, and I assumed they’d be considering a shorter show toward the end of the month - but instead they graciously agreed and asked that I show up the next day to install such that my exhibition ran from June 19-June 30! What luck: this is one of the longest international shows I’ve had as a part of a residency, and definitely the earliest. I am so appreciative I was given the opportunity to share my artwork in such a public gallery for so long (40% of the residency period!).

I brought all five finished paintings, along with a bunch of my greeting cards, and was given a prime set of exhibition tables with protective covers! As I finished more paintings during the show’s duration, I brought them in as well - that’ll be covered in another future post. I set up the show in their first floor gallery, and then returned to the residency to send off my exhibition information which I’m providing below.

Textiles and Territories

by Shelby Prindaville (USA)

This exhibition brings together paintings exploring Estonian ecology, domestic craft, folklore, and geopolitics. Lace, felt, and jacquard trim carry the warmth and care of traditional women's work. Set against that softness, perfokaart (Soviet-era punch cards) and a repurposed crochet panel become surfaces for gulls recast as drones, a collision between domestic inheritance and the machinery of surveillance and war.

I was also able to swing by again shortly after installation with my new friend and nature guide Marko Poolamets on our way out of town to Soomaa National Park, and library director Krista Visas was checking it out as well! She was so warm and professional - she was pleased with the installation and happy to hear I had already sent her my show information. She sprang into action by putting it on social media immediately: their website homepage, news page, Facebook and Facebook stories were all updated the same day. It was also posted on the Tana Parnus events page and the Pärnu Postimees. Below are some screenshots of that publicity! You can click on any of the images below to see them larger.

Next, some exhibition shots:

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.

Upcoming: Loovlinnak Creative City Artist Residency in Pärnu, Estonia

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I’m excited to share that I will be attending the Loovlinnak Creative City Artist Residency in Pärnu, Estonia this summer for a month-long stay in June 2026! This will be my first time in the Baltics, and I’m excited to experience and document the environment and atmosphere in and around the “summer capital of Estonia.”

As always, I’ll try to get some Estonian under my belt before I go. However, there are no local classes in Estonian nor is it even available on Duolingo, and it’s a language family with which I’m unfamiliar (Finnic, a division of Finno-Ugric). I imagine I’m not going to get very far with this one, but I’ll do what I can!