Bio  

Shelli Langdale is an oil painter living and painting in Chattanooga, TN. U.S.A. She has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. An autodidact, she has pivoted careers throughout her life, from a wide-area network engineer for NASA to front-end web development and design. Shelli settled on her first love, art, in 2014 and has studied at the local atelier to further her education when she began exploring personal narratives and symbolism in her paintings that center on the ephemerality of relationships.  

Statement

Grief, a response to loss, doesn't diminish over time. After the acute stage, chronic grief permeates our breathing. To be still in the falling pain, we struggle. We attempt to live in a reality absent a loved one, a perennial search for purpose and meaning requiring movement. It’s immersive. And it manifests differently for everyone. This body of work, in part, is motion, my practice in constructing meaning from loss. The works symbolize pieces of me in a storyline of love and pain. They are fragments of grief personified. Memories conflated from a life once lived, a life in dissolution.

www.shellilangdale.com

When did you realize you wanted to pursue art professionally?

I was entering college and wanted to pursue art immensely. However, I understood it would be challenging to make a living creating art—this was before social media, cell phones, and mobile computers. I fell in love with computer science after taking a programming class, finding it creative in its own right. I was enrolled in mechanical engineering courses at the time and changed my major halfway through the curriculum. It would be 23 years, after experiencing a personal loss, until I would pivot from web development to pursue art professionally.

Whether a fellow artist or friend, who has continued to inspire your work?

When I began painting full-time in 2014, the personal loss inspired and informed my initial work. I also felt a duty of care towards my differently-abled horse, further shaping my paintings. The love I had for him, which was maternal, is what I wanted to express. These pieces often centered on the ephemeralness of relationships and would continue for eight years. Music, science fiction films, humor, and the natural sciences are external sources of inspiration.

What do you enjoy exploring through your art?

Emotion, symbolism, and storytelling are my favorites to explore.

Looking back, what advice do you wish you could give your younger self?

This is a challenging question to answer, requiring considerable introspection. One suggestion I'd have would be to prioritize learning how to learn, given the accelerating rate of technological and societal changes. I would also emphasize the importance of social capital—not just in the traditional networking sense but as a way to create multi-disciplinary bridges.  

What is one thing you hope your audience walks away with after experiencing/viewing your work?

I hope people feel an emotional connection to my paintings, one that fuels self-reflection and change.