Victoria Shaheen is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the search for the modern Utopia, industrial processes, and value systems found in raw materials. She received her BFA from the Corcoran College Of Art + Design in Washington, DC and her MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Shaheen has attended residencies in the U.S. and abroad and has exhibited work at galleries including Wasserman Projects in Detroit, John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, WI and Arrowmont School of Crafts in TN. Shaheen currently lives in New Jersey and works in New York City.
What was the best part for you about being at Monson Arts? And what, if anything, did you learn about your creative process while being here?
The best part about being at Monson for me was probably the quietness. Being there in the winter when the ground is covered in snow and the lake is frozen allows you to slow down to a pace that is perfect for observation. Sometimes I struggle with a constant need to rush and make things. That can be heightened when I’m at residency because I have this alone time to solely focus on producing new work. Monson allowed me to turn that habit off and actually sit with my work and digest the reasons why I made it, the narratives found within it, and the common threads that were present across different pieces. It gave me time to contemplate the work and see it clearly instead of trying to navigate it through all the visual noise of my studio.
What was your focus during your residency?
I brought three different bodies of work with me to Monson and installed them as object-based installations. This was something I could never have done in my own studio at home. When I was selecting the work to bring, I ended up settling on three groupings of objects that I thought were really disconnected. They were new pieces that I hadn’t really seen in a clean gallery-type space yet. In my crammed studio they all seemed disconnected and fractured, to the point that I was actually going to scrap one of the installations as more of a sketch and less of a finished piece. My time at Monson allowed me to step back and see that the work makes complete sense together and had a clear evolutionary arch.
Who are some artists that inspire you and your work?
As far as artists that I look at for inspiration, Lucio Fontana, Beatrice Wood, and Toshiko Takaezu are always a few that are at the top. But I’ve also been really into post-war art collectives like COBRA and The Gutai lately. It seems like there are always groups of artists that prioritize play and metaphoric narrative following times of global strife and political upheaval. As far as living artists go, I have recently been looking at a lot of Tiff Massey’s work, who is based out of Detroit, Takuro Kuwata’s work, who has an awesome show up in NYC right now at Salon 94, and Jeffrey Gibson whose installation at Mass Moca recently blew my socks off. But to be perfectly honest, when I’m stuck in a rut creatively, I find the best thing I can do is go for a really long walk, jump in the ocean, or just watch a bunch of goofy cartoons. Some of the best inspiration I find is not necessarily in the studio or art-based places, but more so where art making takes a back seat and observation and experience are front and center.
Find out more about Victoria and her work on her website: https://www.victoriashaheen.com/
Time and space to create.
Monson Arts is a new artists’ residency and arts center in Monson, Maine. Programs include residencies for artists and writers, intensive shorter workshops, and educational partnerships with area secondary schools.