(Earlville NY – Nov. 2013) Hamilton artist Molly Shaw will open her new exhibit “Undeserved Blessings” in the East Gallery of the Earlville Opera House with a reception on Saturday, Nov. 16, from noon to 3 p.m. Shaw’s journey to becoming an artist is anything but typical. She grew up in Oakland, Calif. in the 1960s and 1970s, spending much of her time out of doors and with animals.
In the 1980s she studied Wildlife Ecology and Journalism, and later Horticulture, after which she created her own edible landscaping business. She received a teaching degree and spent several years teaching third grade and English as a second language in California, New Mexico, Alaska, and Vermont.
Beginning in 2001, Shaw spent eight years farming in Vermont, where she collected maple syrup and built a sustainable housing community with 22 families.
Shaw didn’t take her first painting class until 2005, in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she lived for a year in a 300-square-foot cabin with no running water. With outside temperatures often 20-40 below zero, she spent a lot of time in her studio; it was open 24 hours, and it had both heat and running water.
It wasn’t until 2013 that she received her MFA from Johnson State College in Vermont. She exhibited her work at the Vermont Studio Center between 2008 and 2011, and was an adjunct instructor in drawing there in the spring of 2011.
Shaw is a member of the Broad Street Gallery cooperative. Her paintings arise from intuition found in a quiet, colorful, and meditative state. She rarely plans her paintings. Instead, they arrive organically from intuition, myth, and music. She articulates that her images from the natural world reflect a deep connection with all life wherein the animals she paints are often attempting to awaken the human figures, to lead them (and us) away from our destructive stupor. Her paintings are sacred stories, the ethereal made visible, while always leaving something unknown and unfinished, leaving space for wonder and hope.
The exhibit will run through Dec. 28. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10 am-5 pm and Saturday 12-3 pm. For more information, call 315-691-3550 or visit www.earlvilleoperahouse.com. The Opera House is located at 18 East Main St in Earlville.