Check out this AMAZING auction in support of Breast Cancer Charities along with a celebrity -laden party in NYC featuring work by artist (and Breast Cancer Survivor) Karen Shelton, on 10/19/06 (yes tomorrow).
Sponsored in part by by Animazing.com, where Shelton’s work is featured online, you can bid, email or rvsp by emailing RSVP@animazing.com or call 212.226.7374.
Check out Shelton’s collection of gorgeous art work online or in person at the event on Oct 19.
About Karen Shelton:
Karen Shelton was born into a struggling family in South Carolina, and escaped her shy self into a world filled with only daydreaming and drawing; "I have always known that art has nourished my soul and kept my spirit alive." One bright childhood memory remains present as imagery in Karen’s work; a curio cabinet with glass swans that was orphaned for Karen’s pleasure. The beauty and grace of this unexpected gift has had a significant impact on the artist’s work, in every medium that she has explored.
Karen graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan on a full art scholarship, and was accepted into the MFA program at American University. After a year, a lack of tuition funds forced Karen to join the work force, but she continued to draw, paint and experiment with the use of fabric as a canvas. A year of classes at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia kept Karen inspired. She returned to art full time after her son Ari was born in 1981, and supported herself and her son by selling paintings on fabric.
In 1989, just after her son’s 8th birthday, Karen was diagnosed with breast cancer and told her odds of survival were 50/50. “Being on that kind of tightrope was an advantage in a way….I had to always pay attention.” She kept painting through all of the chemotherapy and recovery from both mastectomies, a year apart. Looking back on this time in her life, Karen acknowledges that it was a blessing that she could not afford to stop working… doing art was her source of strength and even joy. Karen started to turn everything into art; her fabric paintings became utilitarian with purpose; she discovered a way to stain and distress organic fabric and create unusual textures. She created paintings for chair covers, pillows, lampshades curtains and screens.
In 1998 Karen opened a very small gallery in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and named it Sizl Gallery, to honor of the fiery creative spirit that burned within her. For every cancer survivor, it is a bold statement to the world to embark upon any endeavor that has a future, and Karen’s vision was to live, and to live in an environment where creativity was in every breath that she took. This was the vision that changed Karen’s life. She has since moved the gallery into a big beautiful space, and has expanded her vision to include showcasing a number of superb, contemporary artists from the region and all over the world. Karen has been curator for more that 65 shows and; the gallery is included in a prestigious gallery walk, which has gained national recognition. Since the spring of 2006, Karen has been focused on her own art again…and her own show. On October 19th, Animazing Gallery in Soho, New York, will host an opening reception for the Artist, which will be a collaboration to benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Artist’s Statement
"I have taken this opportunity to immerse myself in oils and canvas. I see the female form as echoing all things in nature, but now, as a survivor of breast cancer, I want to use that form to express something deeper… When I was a little girl, I believed I was invisible…and would hide in secret places to dream and feel safe….a survival technique, for sure. The women in my paintings are in those secret places… where they feel and know their own strength and especially their own beauty…just as they are."
Stevie Wilson
LA Story .
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