Meet Shelley Bolton | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shelley Bolton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shelley, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
My art career has taught me so much about myself. Learning to fail, a lOT, and showing back up the next day to make lemon aid from the lemons. It has taught me that life doesn’t revolve around what I do, and that it is bigger than me. I have to work hard to “get out of the way” and not overthink things that come naturally —- that when you use the gifts you have been given they don’t need you to control them. Painting as a career has been a journey full of risks, second guessing, and resisting the urge to please others over my own instincts….. all of which have produced much growth and leaned me into my faith.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m most excited about exploration with my art – trying new techniques, new products/mediums, and composition. I wake up each day and thinking oh good, what’s next! I have a love/hate relationship with non-figurative abstraction which is my primary composition choice. I am so challenged by it, it’s like a puzzle that is never solvable and ever changing……… which is the love part. The hate (hate is too strong of a work, more like frustrating) part is that I am quite often in a state of problem solving and second guessing my decisions making it hard to know when a piece is done. It is much easier for me to draw/paint figuratively as I can just look at it and put it to canvas, but the infinite decisions in abstraction have to come from somewhere much deeper in me. Through this I have grown personally as well as an artist. I begin each piece by writing on the canvas or substrate – something personal to me at that moment, a poem, verse, passage, song, etc. This writing then begins to inform the piece as the layers are added on top —eventually obscuring the words yet my hope is that the message is relayed via the feeling the work evokes. So, my work is usually a little busy, a little loud, and very layered with peep hole views of previous layers shining through in various spots. So I love to use my words, ok i talk a LOT, and i love people and music, and theater, and story telling — through faith all these loves find their way into my work intertwined with a dose of hope. How I got to where I am today was just showing up every day and working. I try not to overthink, I just show up and paint. I allow a lot of “ugly” paintings, to keep pushing on and not get so introspective.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well this will be fun — come on to Memphis home of the Blues! All things music : Beale street, Sun Studio, Graceland, Stax
Civil Rights Museum -Lorraine Motel,
Metal Museum,
Rendezvous BBQ is a must, and after cross the alley to the Peabody for a cocktail with a little rubber duck in your drink and enjoy the Peabody ducks in the fountain.
Catch a play at the Orpheum theater and probably a meal at one of Andrew Michael restaurants.
The pyramid is entertaining, def worth a run through and head to the top for a spectacular view of the city and the M Bridge,
Late night is reserved for Raiford’s Disco…… there really are no words to prepare you for that one so you just have to go with your A game

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It’s a 2-fer —- my father and my husband, Chris It was a pivotal moment and i can still clearly recall the conversation— my 17 year old self seeking advice from my Dad as to what major I was declaring my freshman year in college. I said I wanted to major in Art, to which he asked how I thought I could actually make a living to support myself with an art degree. My answer had no research or forethought behind it and was simply “ i don’t know, I just love it and know it’s a part of who i am”. To which he said, all right, art major it is. No further questions or pressure – freedom to explore.
Fast forward to raising 3 kids and putting them through school, I taught art at their school during their formative years and once all on their paths, my husband knew I was wanting to paint full time and basically pushed me out of the nest-lol. He encouraged and also quietened the fear of failure that would inevitably creep in when starting something new.

Website: Shelleyboltonart.com

Instagram: @ shelleyboltonart

Facebook: Shelley Bolton Art

Image Credits
Stefanie Rawlinson Photoghrapy Colby Interior Designs/ Costa Christ Photography