The Pursuit 2015 Article on 3P Quick Cure Clay

The Pursuit, LSU College of Science's annual magazine, wrote an article in their 2015 issue about 3P Quick Cure Clay, Dr. Pojman, and our collaboration (although they accidentally misattributed my role to a Jessica Nelson).  You can read the article, entitled "LSU Chemistry Professor Creates Multi-Use Quick Cure Clay", on page 23 of 60 here if you're interested!

Goppert Gallery Exhibition Reception Tomorrow

Not only are we on the eve of our biannual Student Art Exhibition, but university administration requested that we have a two-person faculty show as well!  So anyone who is in the area should stop by and check out my artwork, the work of my colleague Susan Nelson, and the work of our fabulous art students.

Opening Reception:
Friday, December 4th from 3-5pm (refreshments will be served; the exhibition is open to the public)

Exhibition Hours:
December 4-10, 10am-4pm

Location:
The University of Saint Mary
Goppert Gallery (located on the ground floor of Xavier Hall)
4100 S. 4th Street
Leavenworth, KS 66048

Press Release:
You can see the full release here, but I've included the bulk of it below.

Art Students Showcase Their Work in the Fall 2015 Student Art Exhibit

12/3/2015 12:00:00 AM
(Leavenworth, Kan.)—From whimsical drawings to captivating photography, the University of Saint Mary displays the impressive work of 41 art students in the Fall 2015 Student Art Exhibit.
 
All students enrolled in a studio-art course—including Drawing I, Ceramics I, Photography I, Computer Graphics, Digital Page Layout, and Advanced Studio in Airbrush—are given the opportunity to show their favorite pieces from the semester. The artwork of Associate Professor of Art Susan Nelson and Art Program Director Shelby Prindaville will also be on display.  
 
“Every semester, students look forward to sharing their work with the community,” said Prindaville. “It’s their chance to show what they’ve been learning and perfecting in class.”
 
She went on to explain, “Students learn how to select and mat appropriate pieces as well as get the valuable experience of having an audience view their work in the context of an exhibition. USM art majors and minors actually organize and install the show—learning gallery and museum preparator skills, too.”

Aspire Magazine Coverage on Summer Achievements

The University of Saint Mary not only issued a press release a little over a month ago on my summer exhibitions and awards, but also just published an article about it in the Fall 2015 issue of Aspire Magazine.

Tribeza Magazine's Article on Madroño Ranch's Artist Residency

"Ranch Refuge" is an older article, but for some reason I couldn't find a link to it online until recently (maybe Tribeza Magazine only publishes its archives online?) so I'm sharing it now.  This piece is about the Madroño Ranch artist residency - I attended it twice and my series of bison paintings stems from those residencies.  Here's my spotlight within the essay:

Many visitors find the bison inspiring. Artist Shelby Prindaville says, “The Madroño Ranch residency provided a wonderful opportunity for me to begin a body of work focused on bison, one of the quintessential American icons.” 

Madroño Ranch isn't currently open to new residents anymore so I feel doubly lucky I learned about and was accepted into the residency when I did.

Another Greater Baton Rouge Business Report Article on 3P Quick Cure Clay

I'm so pleased 3P Quick Cure Clay has been getting so much press lately!  This latest article titled "An LSU professor has invented a curious clay with a range of applications, from art to industry" from the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report highlights my work with the product here:

About two years before officially launching 3P QuickCure Clay, Pojman reached out to art students at LSU to get some insight on his products. Pojman started working with former LSU graduate student Shelby Prindaville to mold his mixture into something more useful to artists by perfecting the consistency. Then he began selling it online.

“He would send me test products, and I would tell him what needed to be tweaked,” Prindaville says. “At some point we reached the stage where I thought it was a really viable sculpting medium and I started making things with it. And he figured out how to make it cheaply enough that he launched the product out into the world.”

The final version of 3P QuickCure Clay allows artists to bypass much of the difficult and tricky parts of sculpting, eliminating the need for a kiln. Also, 3P Quick Cure Clay is strong enough to build sculptures without first creating wire and paper “skeletons” or armatures, Prindaville says.

Prindaville used the medium to create a series of small sculptures of lizards called Anoles. The whimsical figures depict the lizards in various positions, like one balancing straight up its thin tail, that are impossible to create using other types of clay without wire armatures.

Prindaville, now the art program director at the University of Saint Mary in Kansas, uses 3PQuickCure Clay in her classroom because students can cure their work with a heat gun before the class period ends. She says the college cancels classes for one week each spring and students work on projects outside the school’s curriculum.

“Last year, I invited John to come up; he shipped us a large amount of clay and sold us a large amount of the clay. The students did all sorts of stuff and they created a show at the end,” Prindaville says. Some of the student’s creations now mingle alongside the chemistry books and salamander tank in Pojman’s office at LSU.

Dig Baton Rouge "Breaking the Mold" Article on 3P Quick Cure Clay

And here's Dig Baton Rouge with their new article "Breaking the Mold" on 3P Quick Cure Clay including some discussion of my work with it:

Working together with former LSU graduate student Shelby Prindaville, Pojman developed the clay from its original houseware repair model to a final product fit as an artist aid.

“So that’s how it evolved into art,” said Pojman.

[...]

Pojman’s website contains examples of several art projects using QuickCure from the University of Saint Mary in Kansas where Prindaville serves as the art program director. “It was really exciting just to work with the students, get their feedback on features they liked, and also help them use it, and then see where their creativity went,” said Pojman.

Of the works the students created using QuickCure, Pojman notes his favorite are the lizards as they demonstrate the strength of the clay.  “That’s not something you can do with regular ceramics,” said Pojman.

University of Saint Mary News Release

My university, the University of Saint Mary, recently issued this news release on several of my accomplishments this summer:

USM Art Program Director Honored for Her Impressive Work

8/17/2015 12:00:00 AM
(Leavenworth, Kan.)—The University of Saint Mary Art Program Director Shelby Prindaville was recently chosen by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to be one of only three featured tour artists within Art Works for Change’s new exhibition, “Footing the Bill: Art and Our Ecological Footprint,” for her extraordinary work capturing the beauty and frailty of the natural world. The subjects of both her painting and sculpture work encourage humanity to appreciate all creatures in nature—large and small—and reflect on our connection to them. The WWF is the world’s leading conservation organization, dedicated to conserving nature and addressing its most pressing threats.  

Art Works for Change’s “Footing the Bill: Art and Our Ecological Footprint” exhibition highlights our urgent need to live sustainably—choosing wisely how and where to use Earth’s finite resources. Prindaville was one of only 28 artists selected for the curated international exhibition. The exhibit is accessible online at artworksforchange.org. Art Works for Change is a nonprofit organization creating contemporary art exhibitions that highlight critical social and environmental issues.

“I am beyond honored to have my works recognized by both the WWF and Art Works for Change,” said Prindaville. “I whole-heartedly support the mission of both charitable organizations, and these honors reinforce why I do what I do—to call on human reflection and influence change.”

On top of both of these impressive accomplishments, Prindaville also recently won the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri “Best in Show” for her bison painting “Confrontation.” The painting was selected by juror Ruth Ann Reese in the “Wild Things” national exhibition at the Council.  

To see her work, visit shelbyprindaville.com.

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

Greater Baton Rouge Business Report Article on 3P Quick Cure Clay

I was interviewed for this article on Dr. John Pojman's innovative 3P Quick Cure Clay.  Here's an excerpt:

About four years ago, Pojman started working with former LSU graduate student Shelby Prindaville to mold his mixture into something useful to artists, and began selling it online. Now 3P QuickCure Clay can be found in art stores in New Orleans and New Mexico.

The clay they developed allows artists to bypass much of the difficult and tricky parts of sculpting, eliminating the need for a kiln. Also, 3P QuickCure Clay is strong enough to build sculptures without first creating wire and paper “skeletons” or armatures.

Prindaville is now art program director at the University of Saint Mary in Kansas, and uses 3PQuickCure Clay in her classroom because students can use a heat gun to cure their work before the class period ends. She orders it by the pound from Pojman, who produces it from his office space at the Louisiana Business and Technology Center at LSU—a step up from his garage where he used to mix it on weekends.

“I think it’s a really interesting and innovative medium,” Prindaville says. “The great things is, it gives instant results. With regular clay you have to be careful about the moisture, and you can’t apply wet clay to a finished product, but with 3P you can apply wet to dry.”

From the Lab Bench Interview

Dr. Paige Jarreau has just published an interview with me on From the Lab Bench!  

Paige is herself an extremely impressive and multi-talented science journalist and photographer, so I'm very pleased to count her as a friend, as well.  When you're done reading that fantastic write-up, make sure to dig around the site a while as it has loads of other interesting features including a page devoted to her beautiful photography.

Let's Talk Arts Interview

The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri's Let's Talk Arts series has published their interview with me!  There are two ways to view it:

• On the full page of interviews
• On a dedicated PDF

I really appreciate Dr. Joni Hand's insightful questions as well as all the work the council members and staff and juror Ruth Ann Reese put into the Wild Things national juried exhibition and follow-up with me.

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.