Tarrytown Painter Takes the Long Road on Her Artistic Journey

Clara Shen was sitting in her Tarrytown Studio a few years ago, and had the impetus to go for a ride. Instead, the Chinese immigrant began splattering a colorful sports car road trip alongside the ocean. At the same time, the death of friend's dog provided further inspiration, so a four legged creature signals a joyful yelp at shotgun. But despite a multilevel kaleidoscope call across species—which screams for a buyer—Shen still sees deficiencies, and the pull of perfectionism.

“I’m trying to ditch that, but it’s not easy,” Shen said.

On the other hand, she has mastered the throw away in a process that meanders her pieces to an end. “I didn’t know where it was going, and just left it,” she said. “Many of my pieces are just like that.”

So a ton of unfinished works, Shen simply rotates her easel. “Whatever inspires me on a different day, I will work on different days,” she revealed.

Artistic Learning Curve

Shen had a definite starting point back in China, though. “I was always drawing since I was little,” she said.

Eventually, the Beijing native enrolled at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and got her BFA in 2005. But the turned tassel didn’t situate the graduate to just set up on a street corner and sell. “I worked as a graphic designed in a small company,” Shen remembered.

A living made and the subsequent life didn’t agree with her, though. The competitive nature and strict deadlines changed her in a way that she was forced to acknowledge. “I couldn’t relax, and I was very short with everyone,” Shen said. “I didn’t want my life to be like that.”

Leaving the Business of Business Behind

Fortunately for Shen it took a fellow traveler from the business world to pixelate a more fitting future. “I met my husband,” she said of the AI programmer. “He encouraged me to go back to school and continue painting.”

She eventually got her MFA from the Academy of Art, and moved east with her husband to put her in a much less limiting environment. The opening up didn’t stop at the Statue of Liberty either. “I went to a program in Italy for six weeks,” Shen said. “That changed my career.”

In a Master Class at Jerusalem Studio School in Italy, she was ensconced among painters and artists of all varieties. There, Shen was schooled on leaving behind the strict standards of academia. “They told me everything you learned in school was useless,” Shen asserted.

The freeing realization thus began a new journey. “It was really a turnaround, and I began my search for full expression,” said Shen.

Eight years later, her home studio helps chart the discovery, “I like to paint in my comfort zone,” said Shen.

Of course, her husband and three year old son do at times gain access and are checked at the door, “They’re allowed in, but will be ushered out promptly,” Shen joked.

Working her Craft

Either way, Shen was once pretty shy about showing off her work. “I used to be afraid,” she lamented.

So there was exposure at showings such as the 2014 Group Exhibition in Asheville, NC and the 2016 Annual Exhibition at the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts in New York. But a lack of any return was self defeating for Shen. “I was kind of depressed,” she said. “It took me a while to get out of that mode.”

Eventually, she simply got back to the basics. “I just try to work on my craft and get better,” said Shen.

Motherhood can’t help but alleviate the weight either. “I like the routine,” she said. “After I drop off at daycare, I come home and paint. Then I pick him up after a day of work. It’s a nice balance.”

Her mind obviously more at ease, the business prospects have now progressed in kind. Shen has hooked on with a group called zeuxis.us, and recently had her work exhibited the First Street Gallery in New York City.

A show in Alabama is next in August. But she’s quick to assert that the cascade she’s riding doesn’t follow the money, and leaves the final journey a mystery. “Where this boat is going, I have no idea,” she concluded with pride.

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