Brianna Dougherty, Campus Carrier Features Editor
Senior studio art major Shelley Graves has always had a passion for art. Graves said she could not remember a time in her life when she was not creating something.
“Some of my biggest hobbies are quilting and crocheting. I write for fun, sometimes fictional short stories and sometimes poetry,” Graves said. “I also like to garden, and I plant a vegetable garden every year with my family.”
Though these creative hobbies seem unrelated, these activities all influence her art by driving her to create.
Graves finds inspiration in the world around her, citing her friends and everyday people as contributing factors to her art. One piece, a watercolor painting titled “Sunlight on Her Shoulders” depicts one of her friends sitting, book in hand. According to Graves, the image is important because it was the painting that caused her to decide to pursue figures as her primary subject of study.
An art career was not always Graves’ plan. She decided she wanted to be an artist in her final years of high school. She gave credit to an art teacher who took a creative approach to class, and allowed the class to work with techniques such as figure drawing and plein-air painting, a term for landscape painting while outdoors.
“Art became more to me than an hour-long class discussing famous works that seemed leagues above what I could do,” Graves said. “It became a way to convey anything I wanted to.”
According to her professors, she has a lot to be proud of. Brad Adams, associate professor of art, said Graves’ passion is evident through her work ethic.
“[She] has particular issues that she wants to make visible, and is able to engage in research and develop these ideas independent of classroom assignments,” Adams said.
For her most current project, her senior thesis, Graves is working on drawings done with India ink. The figure drawings center around three women, and each piece is titled after a line from a poem Graves has written herself. The idea is that, combined, they will create a full poem.
While she wants to tell a story with the series of figure drawings, Graves said a major challenge is leaving things vague enough for the audience to interpret in their own way.
“My intent is to plant an idea of what’s going on while leaving a lot of open space for others to fill in themselves,” Graves said.
After Berry, Graves plans to keep pursuing her interest in figure art and quilting. She hopes that her work and travels will someday lead her to Sweden to visit friends and explore the art scene around Malmö.