Surreal Artwork Speaks Volumes On Women
Kelly Shoemaker is a quiet soul. A self-described introvert, she says she thinks more often than she ever speaks aloud. But step inside a gallery full of her artwork, and the ambiance suddenly gets very loud.
Bright colors, discorded figures, and broken but hopeful scenes fill Shoemaker’s paintings, speaking volumes about her surreal subject matter, which is most often women.
“A large portion of my current work is made up of what I call ‘deconstructed nudes,’” said the South Whitley artist who grew up in Warsaw. “They are physical representations of emotional damage, things many women have experienced.”
In a set of paintings entitled “The Sisters,” Shoemaker highlights particular flaws in otherwise beautiful women. She says it represents the way women — even sisters or friends — pick out each others physical flaws, possibly to inflate their own self esteem.
Another piece, a large 24×36-inch oil painting, shows a nude woman with her decapitated head in her lap, cigarette in one hand and car keys, medicine container and a bottle full of breast milk scattered on the ground.
“It’s one of the strangest pieces I’ve ever done, and that’s saying a lot,” laughed Shoemaker. “It was one of those images that comes to me when I can’t sleep at night. So I got up, trying not to wake anyone else (I have a husband and three kids). I try to find a sharpened pencil, and I draw. Sometimes it’s 4 a.m. before I can get back in bed. But then I can sleep, knowing the image won’t be lost.”
That piece, entitled “Balancing Up The Measuring Act?” represents all the difficult things women of today are juggling in their lives, explained Shoemaker. Illness, loss, child-rearing, careers, busy schedules and self-maintenance are all represented.
Shoemaker says she did successfully paint a still life of a fruit bowl once, but it wasn’t an especially enjoyable experience.
“I have a style that I like, and I stick to it,” she said.
Shoemaker paints at her home studio, mostly during the day while her children are at school or after their bedtime, she said.
“A lot of people ask what my kids think about my artwork, but to them it’s just normal,” she said. “And my husband says he is glad he married someone so creative.”
Shoemaker has displayed her artwork with the Motherlode Art Group in Fort Wayne and at The Blue Peal Gallery in Pierceton. She is a member of the Artist Forum in Warsaw and the Lakeland Art Association in Pierceton. She also maintains an Etsy shop at www.TrulyOriginalArt.Etsy.com.
Shoemaker currently has an exhibit of her artwork on display throughout March at the LakeLand Art Association Gallery, 107 N. 1st St. in Pierceton. Hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.