Alexandra Sheldon
About | Alexandra Sheldon is a mixed media artist living in Cambridge. She specializes in teaching collage and explorative mixed media technique. She is represented by the Bromfield Gallery in Boston.
Q&A
What are your earliest memories of being artistic? I was decorating paper to wrap presents in for Christmas. I was 13. The radio was playing George Harrison, and I felt this peace and tranquility. I didn’t want to stop. I had carved into erasers and was printing patterns onto tissue paper with them using an ink pad.
When did art become a pursuit? As a teenager. It’s all I wanted to do, all the time.
Happy Accident 3, mixed media on paper
Are you self-taught or formally educated in visual art? I went to the San Francisco Art Institute and the Boston Museum School. I could barely stand high school, and then, you couldn’t get me out of art school. I spent six years in art schools. I had an excellent art education.
How did you first become involved with CAA? I was asked to teach a workshop at CAA several years ago. I really enjoyed the staff, the vision, and atmosphere of CAA.
In what other ways are you involved in the local art community? I teach in various local organizations like Concord Art and Maud Morgan Art in Cambridge. I work in a studio near Central Square in a building with other artists, and I run my own organization called The Collage Collective where I offer classes in collage and mixed media. I’m also part of a cooperative art gallery in Boston, which is a rich and rewarding community.
What role do you think the artist plays in society? Artists are philosophers and observers. Think of a world without reading, music, poetry, dance, movies, paintings…. Artists are so vital! E. B. White, the great writer (author of Charlotte’s Web), said that if he could boil everything he wrote down to one sentence it would read: “I Love The World.” That kind of says it all.
What medium do you currently work in and how did you choose this medium? I used to be a landscape and still life painter. I began to play with materials at one point and wanted to have fun. I sought fun and found it with experimenting and exploring. I still do some landscapes and combine them with abstraction. But mostly, I get in my studio and play now. Listen to music and play. I use acrylics, oils, qouaches, inks, pastels, oil sticks, etc.
Happy Accident 4, mixed media on wood panel
What is your creative process? Where are you finding ideas for your art these days? Teaching gives me ideas. I have to research other artists and/or techniques and I explore.
How do you choose your subject matter? Is there a reoccurring theme that carries throughout your work? Yes, there are always reoccurring themes. Like being afraid, racism, love, depression, weather, beauty. I sometimes struggle with too much inspiration!
In your opinion, what’s your best/favorite piece you’ve made? I think my landscapes and still lives are some of my best work. But I want to do the fun explorative work I’m doing now.
What is one of your artistic goals? To feel free, which I know sounds like a cliche, but it really is my goal as an artist: to be free. You know when you see it: an artist who gives it all, puts it all out there. They don’t hold back. You can feel a kind of looseness, a braveness, an unstoppable energy. That’s my goal.
Happy Accident 1, mixed media on wood panel
What’s your favorite place to see art, and why? I love small museums. I can get overwhelmed by huge museums. If I do go to a large museum, I try to only look at a couple of exhibits and then really spend time there.
What living artists are you inspired by? Mark Bradford, David Hockney, Amy Sillman, Julie Mehretu, Sarah Sze, I could go on.
Do you own any art by other artists? Is so, what artists? I own a Todd McKie, a wonderful Cambridge artist. I have a Richard Yarde watercolor. I own a Hyman Bloom drawing I inherited from my beloved Uncle. I have traded with many artists like Julia Talcott, Ann Miller, Ann Smith and Lisa Houck. I also collect ceramics and glass.
Do you have any shows coming up? Right now, I have five large collages in a show at the Fuller Craft Museum. I have a solo show at the Bromfield Gallery in Boston for the month of March, and in April, I am in a show at the CAA called Give And Take!
See more from Alexandra
Website: http://www.alexandrasheldon.com/
Instagram: @alexandrasheldon_collage
Alexandra is featured in our exhibition Give and Take, which highlights five CAA members that engage with collage thinking in their work. The show runs from April 1–April 30, 2021.