Residencies
The Morningside University News just got in on all the excitement - “Associate professor of art Shelby Prindaville uses skills towards historical process” was published on August 26th! The image on the right is a screenshot of the introduction, but check out the whole article in the link above or take a look at this PDF.
Country Roads Magazine just published a fabulous article on my LSU Vet Med artist residency in both their digital and September print edition! On the left, you can see a screenshot of the beginning of the write-up to whet your appetite.
You can read the digital piece here, see a full PDF, or pick up a physical copy if you’re in the Louisiana/Mississippi distribution zone!
I’ve been getting some nice Louisiana press for my summer LSU Vet Med artist residency, and now there’s great local coverage as well - with more in the works! Here’s the Sioux City Journal digital article “Morningside professor participates in first-ever artist residency at LSU vet school” by reporter Dolly Butz, and here’s a PDF of the print version!
Louisiana Public Broadcasting Service’s The State We’re In did a televised feature on my artist residency and exhibition at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine - you can watch it here!
From their own website: “Louisiana: The State We’re In, Louisiana's only statewide news magazine, is in its 45th season on the air. The program airs Fridays at 7PM and Sundays at 4:30PM on the six-station LPB network that includes stations in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, and Shreveport. It also streams at lpb.org/livetv and airs on LPB’s sister station WLAE-TV32 in New Orleans on Fridays at 7PM and on WYES-TV, the PBS station for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, at 7:30PM.
This award-winning show combines in-depth coverage about the important issues in the state along with expert analysis. […] It is one of the longest-running television programs in the nation.”
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!
Here are a couple of photos of the in-progress Vulture Sculpture! In the first image, you can see how I built an internal armature out of pink styrofoam insulation, wire, and disposable chopsticks. Armatures are really helpful for a few reasons: A) they provide structure and support to bolster strength and keep the clay from sagging, B) they weigh a lot less than clay which makes the piece-in-progress lighter so it puts less stress on weight-bearing areas while wet/uncured C) if you leave the armature inside - like you can do with QuickCure Clay - the finished piece is lighter than if it were solid clay which is typically desirable, and finally D) the armature materials usually cost less than using an equivalent amount of clay.
Then in the second image, it’s midway along; I’m still sculpting the QCC (note the head and wings are unfinished) but it’s taking real shape and I’ve already incorporated the artificial turf, though I have yet to “mold” it with the heat gun. Finally, there’s the finished piece in a similar orientation for comparison!
This is the final piece of artwork I completed on-site at LSU Vet Med during my two-month summer 2022 residency! I think finishing 20 exhibitable pieces including mixed media paintings, a relief, ceramics, and a sculpture in 7 weeks is a remarkable feat, so I am very happy with my productivity.
I worked right up until the day of the exhibition opening on this piece, but I managed to get it “finished” in time - I put that in quotes as I still needed to briefly borrow it back from the exhibition midway through to put a protective varnish on top!
I had wanted to do a sculpture this whole time because A) I’ve always liked putting on exhibitions that have multiple disciplines and media on display to more deeply engage a broad viewership, B) I wanted to really highlight QuickCure Clay, as I’d helped create it with Dr. John Pojman at LSU a decade ago and it felt right to use it in at least a couple of pieces this summer, and C) I had been given a couple pieces of artificial turf from the wildlife hospital that I wanted to incorporate into artwork in some way, and relatively early on I had a lightbulb moment wherein I thought the astroturf had vulture neck-feather vibes! It worked very well, in that a lot of people couldn’t figure out where the artificial turf was used and at least one viewer told me she thought I thought the gravel I used as an installation aid was astroturf. Another viewer asked me if this was a taxidermied piece, which made me feel really good about the likeness!
I titled this piece Vulture Sculpture mostly because I didn’t have time to think about titling it when I had to make the show labels (I didn’t even think it was likely to get finished for it!), but I also do like the rhyme and the clear identification of the species of the bird. I sold this sculpture that same evening to the fabulous Dr. Mark Mitchell from Wildlife and ZooMed and his partner Dr. Lorrie Hale Mitchell from Integrative Medicine! They very kindly were willing to let me take it on exhibit first (as I’m doing with the rest of the sold paintings), but I made some delicate choices with this piece - the claws, the beak tip - that meant I thought it best to let them just take it after my LSU Vet Med solo show came down instead of potentially injuring the piece in shipping.
This is Vulture Sculpture, a mixed media sculpture of a black vulture including QuickCure Clay and ZooMed’s artificial turf, 13.5" x 7.5" x 20.5", 2022.
Here are a few of photos of the in-progress work for Skeletal Ceramics. The first image has some of the bones used in their respective vessels, followed by two more images of the raw ware or green ware. I didn’t take photos while glazing because I was doing it outdoors in 98*F weather so I was sweaty and covered with glaze - as well as acutely aware that I probably needed more glazing time than the shop would be open for!
This is Skeletal Ceramics, assorted handmade stoneware vessels imprinted with or formed around various canine, equine, and swine bones from the anatomy lab, 2022.
I made this body of ceramics start-to-finish on site at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine and with purchased supplies and firing assistance from Southern Pottery Equipment. The canine, equine, and swine bones used include skulls, jawbones, various vertebrae, scapula, femurs, and sacra. The glazes used were an Amaco Shino Cacao Matte Cone 5-6 Glaze (SH-32), a Spectrum Satin White Hi-Fire Cone 5 Glaze (1121), and a Spectrum Satin Mottle Hi-Fire Cone 5 Glaze (1122). I applied the Cacao Matte to all the textured/impressed areas and then sponged off the outer surfaces, then put on a generous two coats of the Satin White, and then painted a little of the Satin Mottle on kind of haphazardly and then more carefully at the lips. I fired to Cone 6. I was really happy with how this combination performed, as they do look like bone themselves! Seven of these pieces sold during the exhibition to three different buyers.
The anatomy lab allowed me to take the bones I’ve been using back with me so that I can continue to develop this collection, so stay tuned for more.
After I was able to return to the studio from COVID, I felt a lot of self-pressure to complete all the work I had envisioned prior to getting sick and losing access for several days. I prioritized my mosquito painting, ceramics, and pig board piece first.
My very kind host Rob Carpenter had helped me order a raw poplar frame from his own framers, and he showed me how to assemble it that weekend. We ran into a bit of a snafu when the museum glass was 1/8” too long, but Michael’s was willing to trim it down (and shared that if it broke in the process they’d also be willing to recut a new piece at no additional cost since it was their error in the first place). I also have to give Michael’s, specifically one of its workers, huge credit as they mounted my mosquito netting to the matboard for me! I was willing to do it myself if need be, but the most logical process was to get the whole matboard in, apply matte medium to the whole face and press the netting on top with a large flat weight (like a piece of plywood) until dry, and then cut the matboard down to size and with the window. They agreed with me about that being the simplest way, and said that they’d take care of it since they’d be doing all the surrounding work to it anyhow! I feel like I got a little taste of what it must be like to have a professional studio assistant, and it is a very nice luxury… They also gave me free foamcore backing and put little metal tabs in as well. Once it was all assembled, Rob helped me wire it and it was finally done!
Switching gears, I was lucky that I had brought all my raw ware down to Southern Pottery Equipment to be bisque-fired just before I came down with COVID, and we decided together that given my timeline I’d go there to glaze it on site so that it could then instantly be put in the glaze firing. So on Tuesday, I headed over!
I had purchased three different glazes which in my head when combined together would give a bone-like appearance. The catch is that I was just guessing based off my previous experience with completely different glazes, and as I believe I mentioned before this was a one-shot, que será, será situation. It took me four hours to glaze all 17 ceramic vessels, but honestly I stopped because the shop was closing - I could probably have glazed for another hour more!
Much of the rest of the week was spent planning out how the show would be installed, tracking down pedestals, and finishing up the pig piece. I also recorded the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge podcast. Then I returned to fetch my glaze-fired ceramics! Unfortunately, none had been stilted as the shop hadn’t felt there was a need, but the satin mottle seemed to behave more as a hi-flow gloss and it ran enough to fuse a number of my pieces to the kiln shelf. A large bowl I had impressed with a pig skull fragmented into pieces, and another four pieces had pretty severe damage. One had moderate damage but was still displayable, and then another five or so had varying bottom detritus; I did the best I could to smooth them all out, but I only had a Dremel rotary tool on hand so I was much more limited than if I’d been back in the Morningside studio with our diamond grinders. Despite the damage, about half were completely unscathed and I think I ended up displaying 13 total in the show.
That weekend, I put the pedal to the metal in racing to finish a vulture sculpture I had begun weeks ago but then deprioritized. The one non-art event of the week I did sneak in was to get a haircut! I had looked at the Baton Rouge subreddit for curly hair specialists and there was a woman recommended at the local Supercuts - I decided to try her out, as the rest of the options were all $80+ and I was feeling tapped after outlaying $400 for my isolation housing on top of all the other costs of the residency.
Here are some in-progress photos of Seeing Double!
My seventh artwork almost didn’t get made on site - I knew what I wanted to do, but tried in vain to get my hands on a necessary component until Dr. Clare Scully came to the rescue!
Let me back up and explain it from the beginning. A very cute Kunekune pig named Tigger came in for observation and diagnosis and he left the next day feeling much better (and after I gave him a quick cuddle). With his owners’ permission, I decided I’d like to feature him in a painting or two! As I always do when I see a new species here at LSU Vet Med, I started asking about what veterinary materials they use specifically with that species - in this case, pigs. After hearing about a handful of items, the ones that seemed the most useful for my purposes were the pig sorting panels or “pig boards” and Dremel rotary tools (used to sand down hooves). I had brought a rotary tool with me as a sculpting aid already, so that was easy - but the pig sorting panel was a harder acquisition. This is because all the ones they had on hand were made out of plastic, and were pretty clearly intended to be easy to clean in a way that would make it harder to work archivally on top of and they were also obnoxiously colored. Wooden ones are regularly used, too, but there weren’t any in the large animal hospital as typically the wooden ones are just created on demand in a farm woodshop to save money and time.
I started asking all the large animal veterinarians, residents, and students if they knew of a source, put word out via my communications liaison Sandy Sarr, and posted a Craigslist ad… but a week had passed and my show exhibition was drawing closer so I thought I’d need to wait until I could ask my agricultural colleagues back in Iowa. And then Clare came into the room, we chatted, she said she’d see what she could do, and a couple of days later, she had done it! She had found two wooden pig boards for me that were the dimensions I had been looking for from another LSU site and said they were sufficiently used as to be destined for the scrap heap, so this was a much better use for them.
I happily adopted them both and gave them a light sanding and heavy cleaning. For the first composition I had in mind, the slightly smaller and more “standard” board worked better, so that’s what I went with! I would like to photograph it again when I get back home and have access to a large white background, but this image will do for now.
This is Seeing Double, a mixed media relief including Dremel counter relief, QuickCure Clay, PVP Prep Solution (betadine), and acrylic on a used pig board / sorting panel, 29.75x19.25x1.25”, 2022.
Here are process photos from Crèche Chic!
As I may have shared before, I have met a bunch of amazing animals while here and there are a handful with whom I’ve really connected. This little fellow tops the list - you may recognize this brown thrasher from Wild Card, but here he is in his natural color palette and two different poses! I was fortunate enough to get to see pretty much his entire journey at the vet school in ZooMed’s wildlife hospital - from coming in as an abandoned nestling whose two siblings didn’t make it to his fledging and becoming a young adult, to his release! I will share his release photos in a different post.
The whole background is non-traditional veterinary media - namely, herbal treatments from Integrative Medicine! They created a really cool surface but were water-soluble and organic so I sealed over them several times with acrylic medium before painting the baby birds.
This is Crèche Chic, a mixed media painting including Integrative Medicine’s Jing Tang Herbal Concentrated Red Lung and Concentrated Prostate Invigorator and acrylic on panel, 18x24x1.5”, 2022.
The next week began with my making some more progress in the studio and also taking some more reference images for future artwork. However, what felt like allergies flaring up on Monday and Tuesday began to seem more suspicious by Tuesday evening, and Wednesday morning I took an at-home COVID test which reflected a positive result. I have been around a large number of unmasked people both at the vet school and at the various art receptions I’ve been attending, so I wasn’t terribly surprised given how infectious this latest wave has been.
When I called in with the news, LSU policy dictated that I stay out of the provided studio until five days of symptoms had passed. This would normally be a bit problematic from a productivity standpoint but otherwise unremarkable, except that the housing I’ve been provided is marginal and without an escape to go to (the studio and restaurants/cafes/shops), it is a unrealistic place to ask a professional guest to isolate for days.
Below are a couple of photos of the totality of housing space I’ve been provided. My host is a very kind and gracious artist himself, and he thinks that it’s ideally used as a very short term weekend or week-long stay and that LSU Vet Med was already pushing it to ask me to stay there for two months. He shared with me that as an isolating unit he views it as effectively a jail cell or a cubicle, and that he agrees it is unreasonable to ask anyone to isolate within it. (The last photo is how I sleep as the floor is more comfortable than the cot, but I store the pad on the cot when not sleeping as it is impossible to get to the bathroom or exit otherwise.) As you can imagine, I try not to spend much waking time in this space; I just use it as a place to sleep and shower.
I therefore had to scramble to find a hotel or Airbnb on extremely short notice. I managed to find a viable place - a studio apartment with a kitchen - and had to personally outlay approximately $400 (the cheapest functional arrangement I could find on same-day notice) to stay there for the rest of the isolation period.
The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine is unwilling to pay for or even share the cost of this expenditure, which is very disappointing. For anyone considering doing this artist residency, I’d just warn you that any housing or COVID issues you face while here are at your own cost and that their standard for acceptable housing is marginal. Staying in this space already cost me more than I’m used to in residency food expenses due to not having a kitchen (meaning I can only eat prepared foods or microwave or refrigerated meals), so requiring that I fully carry my isolation expenses on top strikes me as unprofessional on the part of the LSU Vet Med artist residency program. I am hesitant to recommend this residency without sharing this issue as it has been an unexpected and pretty significant negative. But rounding it out, in almost all other aspects I have had a good experience and other more minor problems have all seemed like teething pains that would naturally occur as the inaugural artist.
Once my isolation period ended and I was able to access the studio again, I moved back into the above pictured space and picked up where I’d left off on my studio practice.
The Advocate writer Robin Miller wrote up a lovely feature article for The Advocate on me, “LSU Vet School hosts first-ever resident artist: Combines clinical labs to create art” which was digitally published yesterday! (It hasn’t yet come out in the print version - I think Robin mentioned it will be in the Saturday edition.) Below is just a screenshot of the intro, but you should definitely follow the link above and read the whole piece!
And here are process pictures of Singularity from start to finish!
This is actually the first piece I began here at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine! I never know how to properly answer people as to how long a piece of artwork takes to finish, as my optimal process involves working on several different pieces simultaneously. If you count start to finish, I worked on it for a month and five days - however, there were a number of days in there that I didn’t touch this piece or only worked on it for a couple of hours…
The subject in this piece is a three-day-old baby Nubian goat; she was fully healthy but was brought in to accompany her brother who was failing to thrive and unfortunately didn’t make it.
Singularity, mixed media including Clinical Pathology’s Diff-Quik Eosin Y stain, Clinical Skills' fluorescein, Histology’s light green stain, and acrylic on basswood panel, 12x24x1.5”, 2022.
Here are some in-progress images of Hosts! I had to almost exclusively use my two smallest brushes for the whole painting, which was tedious but ultimately worth the effort.
After I made the pinch pots, I refocused on some of the paintings I had in progress. I prioritized working on my mosquito painting, as since it’s a work on paper it will need to be framed, and framing it for the exhibition here at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine would be more impactful if the timing allowed! I also continued to visit different areas - primarily large animal and wildlife - to see if any new patients might make their way into my work. I attended the release of a wild black vulture who I’d had a chance to observe several times through the healing process. Wildlife releases are such meaningful moments, and I don’t think I’d ever get tired of participating in them.
July 4th was a Monday, and though it was a federal holiday, captive animals still need food, water, clean habitats, and/or treatments! This meant that I was invited to take a look at several endangered Louisiana pine snakes while they were undergoing routine veterinary testing and care. Later that week, I attended the July exhibition reception at the Baton Rouge Gallery of four different members’ work.
That weekend, the Baton Rouge Orchid Society hosted their annual show and sale, and I oohed and aahed over the specimens on display and purchased several new-to-me orchids. The event was held at the LSU Burden Center, so I also wandered their outdoor gardens until the heat drove me back to the studio! Then that evening I attended the LSU Glassell Gallery’s Bloom opening reception in the downtown Shaw Center for the Arts.
It is really exciting to get to see a variety of contemporary artists exhibit work regularly; I love that Baton Rouge has a sufficiently large artistic population and gallery presence to provide the opportunity to attend this many receptions during my time here.
Below is a photo of a live oak outside of the Baton Rouge Gallery festooned in ferns, lichens, and just being its own little ecosystem - I absolutely adore these trees, even though I’m also allergic to them! They’re iconically southern and also remind me of my grad school days. Then all the subsequent images are from the orchid show and the Burden Center!
