Mary Beth Shaw worked in the insurance industry for 18 years before she quit her job in 2000 to re-ignite a childhood love of art. Her creative process is a dance between spontaneity and intent; she finds great joy in the physical act of painting and looks at her best work as a gift from a higher power. She welcomes mistakes because they so often provide a delightful detour into new territory. She is author of Flavor for Mixed Media and Stencil Girl, is a columnist for Somerset Studios Magazine and a Golden Artist Educator. She is the founder of StencilGirl® Products, LLC and StencilGirl Studio.
With art, I am able to stop time and accelerate time simultaneously. There are moments when I literally forget to eat. There are times when I transform into a child and forget to go to the bathroom. Time stops for me in those moments because I am so completely immersed in my art that real life disappears. But then I look up and the clock has raced ahead without my knowledge.
There is also the magic of synchronicity, when I allow my intuition to take me on a ride. I magically gravitate from one paint color to the next; I pick up a piece of collage that reveals meaningful content about my work; I feel myself in a new body and it is fulfilling at every level.
Art is chaos that leads to peace, at least for me. That is indeed magic.
Why do you create art?
I create art to live. I know that sounds overly dramatic and even enigmatic, but, like so many, I have had several great traumas in my life. Art has allowed me to process both the past and the present in ways that facilitate healing. My art journals specifically, have helped me to understand life in a way that feels vital, but is fuzzy to explain. All I know, for sure, is that I will never NOT make art. It is THAT integral to my core being.
Tell us about your journey to become an artist?
When I was a child, my mom dabbled in art and, while she was doing figure drawing, I was sprawled on the floor in the gallery of our art museum. I remember we were given enormous sheets of paper and encouraged to fill the sheet. I loved art and excelled at it until the 8th grade (about age 14) when my teacher bluntly told me I would never be an artist. I was so demolished that it stopped me from making art for many years. I turned my interests to writing and music. When I was in my mid 30’s, I started making greeting cards using rubber stamps. By the time I approached age 40, I knew that corporate America no longer fed my soul. I decided to quit my ‘day job’ to work at writing. In an odd twist, I took a collage class and visual expression started to dominate my life. That led me to pursue college level classes and workshops. By the time I turned 42, there was no turning back. I then made a specific decision to earn my living as a professional artist.
What is currently inspiring you?
Most of my art career, I have painted about connections, whether obvious or hidden. I have always enjoyed the journey of each and every piece. My art sometimes comes about as a riddle and I struggle to determine the message it sends me. Links, connections and cycles continue to inspire my work and I want to spend more time on this topic. I would like to explore it through mediums that are new to me and to figure out ways to incorporate other mediums into the mix I already employ.
How has your process evolved?
My process is always evolving because I enjoy being a mad scientist with supplies and pushing the limit to see how I might develop new techniques. The physicality of each specific medium intrigues me and I often spend hours on end working to see what might happen if I mix A with B. I view my role in StencilGirl®Products as chief experimenter at large. I imagine my process as somewhat of a moving target, where it isn’t always the same.
