Katie Slagle
Glenn Zucman
Art 110- Intro into Visual Arts
29 March 2020
Artist Conversation
Maccabee Shelley was originally going to school for environmental science until he chose to go down the path of art. He eventually went on to earn his bachelor’s degree at Humbolt State Univerity in studio arts and art history all while being a studio technician and teaching assistant at City College of San Fransico. After he later attended California State Univerity Long Beach for two post-baccalaureate years and then went to Italy two summers in a row and assisted other students with their art. In 2019 Shelley graduated with his FMA’s in ceramics in 2019.
Maccabee’s work is very textured with many jagged edges and using many colors. The colors used are vivid and bright with a few more muted tones do go with very bold colors. His projects have a lot of dimension and many seem to be quite large in size. The pieces all seem to look melted together to create more color, texture, and more individuality to each work.
I have not seen any artist use technique’s like the one used by Maccabee. I would like to know more about how he created each individual piece and all the materials used and how he mixed them to create the different layers and colors in each piece. I also would like to know why he chose to work with ceramics, glass, mixed-media, installation.After digitally viewing Maccabee Shelley’s exhibition, No Redemption Value, off of his website I can see how art is not always using one kind of art media to create a piece and that you can mix them to create something entirely new and unique. Art also does not have to look like anything seen before but can be simply admiring the beauty of the way things melt, combine, and mix together to become one.
My favorite piece of Maccabee Shelley’s No Redemption Value exhibition
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