Opening Reception Sunday April 14, 2024, 1-3 pm

Shedding My Toxic Core Part III is the continuation of work by the mother/daughter duo Yvonne Shortt and Rebecca West. The concepts of scarcity and abundance have become more and more prevalent in how Shortt addresses her artistic practice. Scarcity is found across industries such as art, education, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations; essentially in society at large. Examples of what Shortt defines as scarcity are: competition, gatekeeping, hierarchies, and exclusivities. The concepts of abundance, Shortt finds, are found in “intentionality and freedom as well as sustainability from a financial, emotional, and environmental perspective.”

The act of making art is almost always tied to a material. One must take a material from its natural state to create, often with environmentally harmful means of manipulation. Shortt and West have been approaching sustainability from a materials perspective in their practice. They collaborate with beavers, using their discarded sticks to create pieces for play, conversation, and energy shifts. Shortt and West will continue to investigate these concepts as they invite others to work with them in the gallery space for the duration of their exhibition, using abundance to source their art making techniques, such as creating paint from soil.

For more information please visit Shortt’s website.

BRIAN SLATTERY: NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Artists Stare Into The Sun, 5/16/24