Artist Statement
Shelly Porter

“a painting should grow out of an internal necessity”
- Wassily Kandinsky

     Being a cancer survivor has had a direct influence on my decision to pursue a career as an artist and gave me a direct
and definitive direction for my inspiration. Color, form and pattern have always been dominant aspects of my work and
uses of these 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 that “form has its own inner sound.” He also stated that, “color possesses spiritual qualities and physical effects”. 
In my mind, the colors that I use are voices that express an intangible part of me. Form and pattern are complimentary vessels in
making that unspoken place a visual reality. My paintings are tokens or amulets created in hopes of making my thoughts,
experiences and intuitions a reality.

     While my work is not strictly limited to abstraction, I find it interesting to explore the circular form in a non-objective format
because to me, 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 on a more subliminal
and cellular level. Working in watercolor and seeing the infinite ways it reacts to and dries on the paper feels clean and pure to me and
is a perfect way to let my own soul vibrate and to let it’s own inner form take shape. All of these things give me a voice to express
the gratitude that I have for each day of my life as well as to express the spiritual connections that I sense and feel.

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