Statement

In my day job as a museum professional I surround myself with the work of others, designing environments that frame and explain modern and contemporary art. This daily contact with great artwork inspires my own creation.

I have explored the intersection of my museum career with my outlook as an artist through a series of etchings that explore the absurdities inherent in natural history exhibitions. These prints highlight the awkwardness of using stuffed, dead animals to present life in dioramas.

I primarily use my work to give form and shape to what feels inexpressible. Although I’ve drawn and painted since I was a small child, I have only recently begun to share my work with others. Before that I created for myself alone; it felt too intimate to put on display.

Perhaps because of this, much of my work is about process, the layering of effect, and reworking of ink and pigment. I begin by drawing freehand, usually without a clear subject in mind. Instead I follow a memory, image, or feeling. I try not to know exactly what a finished work will be, because it kills the joy of its unfolding.

Biographical Sketch (Professional)

Emily Sloat Shaw designs and produces graphics at the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. She graduated in 2007 with an MFA in Museum Exhibition Planning and Design from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Before beginning her MFA, she served as a Senior Research and Evaluation Assistant at the Museum of Science, Boston. There she evaluated exhibitions and programs, and studied visitor learning in museums. As the Museum Educator at Dreams of Freedom: Boston’s Immigration Museum, she created programs on immigration history for children and adults, and started a series of exhibitions that featured the work of local artists and students.

Emily is interested in bringing some of the interpretive techniques seen in science and children’s museums to history, culture, and art museums, and to returning the object to a focal point of learning in science and children’s centers. Her professional mission, like that of many museums, is to foster meaning-making, creation, and community reflection.