More About ShAy

About the Artist
ShAy Black ​is​ ​a​ ​poet, writer, visual artist​​ and 30 year U.S Army veteran from Greenville, SC.  ShAy​ ​attended​ ​Converse College where she received a BFA in ceramics & sculpting. She’s the owner and artist of ShAy Black Expressions, LLC were she uses her passion for writing and visual arts as a mean to inspire others to become their own life’s  inspiration; like herself, who manages lost, depression, and anxiety. Her craft is the inner voice she no longer silence. She’s the creator of loud words and black art. It’s her stance to create beauty out of life’s imperfections, influence emotions and perceptions to bring people together physically through art and heal culture differences one heArt at a time. She’s a three time team member of Say What slam team, Greenville, SC and competed with Team Injustice, Spartanburg, SC in 2017. She is the artist of creativity: the believer of undying love. You may find her on all forms of social media as @iamshayblack, @shayblackexpressions, and @masterpieceswithatwist.
 

Artist Statement

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I am a multidisciplinary mixed media artist, and this is how I transform the journey of making art into my unique artistic style of creating.  My subject matter is mostly about African American women, but overall, my message speaks for the people of color whether it’s a traditional painting or abstract expressionism to convey to weighs heavy on my heart. My choice of medium is acrylic, watercolor and, oil to push paint and brush across the canvas, watercolor paper, or wood to capture the emotions that speaks volume.

 

 Everything is captured through sketches or spontaneous mark making.  The purpose of my art if nothing else, is to create an intrinsic relationship of identity within the community to which I belong.  Every painting represents a unique reflection of learning who I am as a black woman. 

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My paintings are sometimes very specific to what’s going in the world, (i.e., names, faces, and movements).  When I create, I’m not interested in just producing a pretty picture; I want to create honest dialogue and emotions. My use of color for the backgrounds are usually dark to create a dramatic scene to very light pastel colors to represent goodness, innocence, and unity. I like to use large and small marks, visible and blended brush strokes that lead the audience back to the subject eyes. The vulnerability in my paintings is always in the eyes. They speak volume and create uncomfortable emotions. My process revolves around my own emotions in the fear of losing another child in a sometimes an unsympathetic world toward people of color especially black women.

 

My work has a common theme: black, strength, and hope. In my process, I use a lot of mixed media from wall sparkle, dirt, paper, metal, pastels, and found objects; it represents my childhood, "making a way out of no way." Ideas are thought out through sketches, but the outcome of the piece is unknown. I paint using a blend technique between abstract and recognizable portraits. I love painting the human form; especially black people, it moves individuals to social action, an overall thrilling messages and images that speak to and about my people's stories creatively.

 

My flow is very upfront and intentional. I choose to make black art because if not me then who? I am a visual artist, poet, and teaching artist which represents what I stand for justice for black American.