Shelly Porter

Shelly's watercolors explore the relationship between color and form. Her gestural brush strokes are expressive of her inner conversations about spirit, life, love, and hope. Her use of color intertwines effortlessly into this dialogue.

Biography Shelly Porter is a watercolor artist and a native Texan, born in Austin in 1961. She has resided in Corpus Christi on the Gulf Coast since the age of four. Shelly earned a Bachelor of Science degree in the field of Interior Design, from the University of Texas at Austin, in 1983, and practiced locally for several years. At the age of 31 she was diagnosed with cancer. This event affected her life on many levels and served as the impetus she needed to begin her long-time dream of creating art.

Shelly's inspirations originally centered around her faith and its traditions and she painted mainly objective symbolism emphasizing color and shape. Recently Shelly began painting non-objective and gestural work, and still considers color and shape the dominant influences for her work. Persons of significant influence to her are Wassily Kandinsky and Gustav Klimt. Shelly has a long term goal of finding original, inventive and international venues for her work and looks forward to wherever the journey may lead.

Statement Being a cancer survivor has had a direct influence on my expressions. Color, form and pattern have always been dominant aspects of my work, but the use of these qualities has been paramount in the processing of my life after cancer. Uses of these same aspects by the artists Wassily Kandinsky and Gustav Klimt have specifically inspired me. Wassily Kandinsky’s theories regarding color and form appeal to me on a deeply personal level. Kandinsky believed that “Color calls forth a vibration from the soul”, and “form has its own inner sound.” He also stated, “Color possesses spiritual qualities and physical effects”. The colors I use are voices that express an intangible spiritual part of me. My paintings are physical tokens or amulets making my thoughts and introspections a reality. Gustav Klimt’s sensual use of color, pattern and gold leaf speak to me in a similar way.

I find interest in exploring circular forms in a non-objective format because the circle has so many varied meanings of a symbolic and spiritual nature. At one end of the spectrum the circle can represent spirituality, eternity and wholeness, while the opposite extreme can be interpreted to mean emptiness, isolation, containment and closed-mindedness. My current work represents the reconciliation of thoughts, feelings and events in my life from a subliminal and cellular level. Working in watercolor and seeing the ways it reacts to and dries on the paper feels clean and pure to me and it is a perfect way to let the varied colors of my own soul vibrate and to let its inner form take shape.

Read more in an interview with Shelly on the Artmuse blog.