UW artist Shelby Shadwell at work.
A solo exhibition by Shelby Shadwell, assistant professor in the University of Wyoming Department of Art, will be on display through Friday, Feb. 22, at the Manifest Drawing Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
His exhibition of drawings, “A Universal Picture,” is one of six selected from among 150 proposals submitted for consideration for Manifest's ninth season. Shadwell has participated in previous Manifest projects, including the International Drawing Annual 6, which features his work on the cover.
Shadwell will lead a public demonstration of his drawing process Saturday, Feb. 23, from 5-9 p.m. at the Drawing Center. A free artist talk is scheduled at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, in the gallery.
“My practice is firmly rooted in large scale observational drawing,” Shadwell says. “I have always been interested in facilitating a dynamic interaction between representation and abstraction since I became familiar with the work of Vija Celmins. Although the particular subject of black plastic trash bags is mostly emphasized in this body of work, I am also moving toward other content including the abstraction of entomological specimens.”
Shadwell in 2003 received his B.F.A. from Washington University School of Fine Art in St. Louis, Mo., where he studied printmaking and drawing as a Kenneth E. Hudson Scholar. He then accepted a fellowship to attend Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and went on to graduate in 2006 with an M.F.A. in printmaking and drawing.
Shadwell actively exhibits across the nation and is represented by 222 Shelby Street Gallery in Santa Fe, N.M. He was one of three artists to receive a Visual Arts Fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council in 2010, and was an artist-in-residence at the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Wendover, Utah, in the summer of 2011.
Founded in 2004, Manifest Gallery serves as a venue for the display and experience of insightful, thought-provoking art and design, and functions as a hub for creative research and innovation at all levels of artistic endeavor. Manifest Drawing Center promotes, features and explores drawing as a rich and culturally significant art form through the pursuit of scholarly activities.
