Laurie Maurer Shelton 2023
ABOUT
Laurie Maurer Shelton (b. 1966 Ann Arbor, Michigan) is a painter residing in Napa Valley, CA. Shelton’s colorful, expressive paintings of a cow portrait have become her mandala. Karl Jung declared the mandala as a graphical representation of the “self”. She paints the same shape over and over with exaggerated colors and brush strokes evoking an ever changing version of herself. The eyes of the cow especially capture the rapture of her use of color. With bold gestural strokes, mixed with dabs from a palate knife, sweeps of varying brush sizes and paint viscosity, she builds the illusion of an eye. Inspired by the SF Bay Area art of Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebaud her colors pulsate with energy.
Her figurative work began when she was invited to join a group of painters in Palo Alto. They were called “The Drawing Circus”. It was started by Stanford Professor Edward Stanton. It was in this group, with a moving model and curated distractions that Laurie discovered her figures. Her paintings are from these drawings.
Education:
2013-2020 The Drawing Circus, Palo Alto, CA
2011-2020 Pacific Arts League, Palo Alto, CA
2009-2011 Academy of Art, San Francisco, CA
1985-1990 University of Central Florida
Solo Exhibitions
2015 The Jewerly Shop. Paris, France
2016 The Napa Valley Museum. Yountville, CA
2019 CAMi Art+Wine Gallery Calistoga, CA