SHELLEY HELMS FLEISHMAN - SHFstudio

I feel like I came to art through language -- specifically poetry.  My work reflects how I structure language as an assemblage of stacked images, a construction of color and shape.  My body of work covers several mediums, but is consistently inspired by nature, whether it is gratitude for light on a bird's wing or a multi-layered examination on the cellular level.  

I constantly experiment and am deeply moved by texture and smell and history.  I try to incorporate my surroundings into my work by using local materials and local inspirations.  Sometimes that means I use plants from my yard or pictures from my rambles, but it might also mean that I use trash from the floor of the studio.

I feel incredibly lucky to have a studio in the basement of my home where I can make endless messes and work in my paint stained hoodies.  I teach, I do artist talks, I curate, and I love to meet other artists -- or just art lovers.  

Home life is one teenager, one college kid, two cats, one dog, and a sports-loving husband who occasionally tiptoes into the studio to check on me.