Shirley Guay

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I am a contemporary artist who creates abstract realism. Abstract Realism is an art form that combines abstract patterns, colors, and textures, with images derived from real life.

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ABOUT ME

I was born in  Chicago, Illinois the daughter of working-class parents Boysie Stephens and Shelly Nichols Stephens. Raised in the Robert Brooks homes, a Chicago housing project and the eldest of three siblings. My mother earned a Fine Art degree and my grandfather, Shelby Nichols was an opera singer, and sang with the National Negro Opera Company. Both were huge influences in my life.

 

My  artistic talent was first recognized by The Art Institute of Chicago at the age of  12 when I was one of two students selected to participate in lecture classes at the Ryerson Auditorium. My first painting was a depiction of myself as a character in the novel Little Women. They projected it on the auditorium’s big screen and used it as an example of an excellent work of art. That acknowledgement at such an early age started my journey on what was to become a lifelong endeavor. I went on to study music and Balinese dance which influenced my sense of movement, color, form, and composition.

 

In 1981, I became a Program Director for an after-school program located in Chicago’s West Town area. I found it necessary to expand my interests in art to effectively run an art program at the center, so I attended Harold Washington College and studied extensively with Anna Lee Hultgren. Hultgren studied with Isobel McKinnon, who studied with Hans Hoffman. Hoffmans work was influenced by artists such as Picasso and Cezanne. I began to develop my own style while studying these past masters. It was during my time at Harold Washington College I experimented and refined my talents in printmaking, painting, collage, and 3D.

 

 I taught for 31+ years working with children. Now retired, I moved to a small farming community 2 hours west of Chicago where my storefront is now a private gallery and my studio. Occasionally, I teach creative drawing at local high schools. Most recently, I am  working to create a piece of public art. It is a new genre for me, and I am delighted to learn, yet another way  to express myself through art.