Sunday July 11th at Urban Arts Collective, 11am to 2pm

Urban Arts Collective welcomes artist Colin Michael Shaw on Sunday July 11th. An artist’s reception, free and open to the public, will be held from 11am – 2pm. Urban Arts Collective is adjacent to Urban Eats Café at 3301 Meramec, St. Louis, MO 63118. This showing of the painter’s newest works created in the last two months will be the first of three during the his residency throughout the entire summer at the Collective, which hosts four to five artists at a time for a three month tenure. “I will continue the new work all summer and present as completed on the second and third showings of Sunday, August 15th and Sunday, September 19th, both from 11am to 2pm.”, says Shaw. “This is a great opportunity to work in a progressive St. Louis neighborhood not far from where my father was raised, which fascinates me.”

Urban Eats Café is a casual neighborhood eatery serving healthy and fresh-made menu items. In cooperation with the Arts Collective, surrounding local businesses, the Dutchtown Downtown Business Assoc. and youth outreach of the Dutchtown South Neighborhood Community Corps, Urban Eats thriving among the urban revitalization of this South St. Louis community. For more information visit urbaneatscafe.com or the artist’s blog www.shawart.blogspot.com

Shaw with "All the King's Horses, All the King's Men", 30 x 40", acrylic, mixed media on canvas

CM Shaw at Urban Arts Collective- All Summer Long

This is a preview poster of my 3 month stint at Urban Arts Collective from July through September. I will make new paintings for each of my three "events", Sunday July 11th being the 1st. It will be a marathon summer full of painting- I hope to see you at one or more of my 3 introductions of the new work as it unfolds.... I am painting furiously. It's going to be a very productive summer...

You might have already noticed that we have moved SHAWART.COM to Facebook- I did this for a few reasons: it will be easier for me to put new work and events up myself, Facebook is extremely popular right now, there is no charge to host my work on this platform, and I wanted to peel away some of the less important work from the past and focus on the more recent paintings. I've made a lot of work over the years... sorting it out is sometimes more work than making it. TAKE A PEEK at my SHAWART.COM Facebook page- click the LIKE BUTTON and be a friend, OR suggest to a friend who likes art- I really appreciate it! Big props to Michael Dickens for the years of hard work making shawart.com happen- you are the best!

The general internet public will still have access to all my picture galleries on the "new site", and I have already put up an album of work that is still available for purchase- feel free to inquire, my contact info is on the site. I pretty much sold a painting for every day in the month this past April, so if you are waiting you might want to reconsider. That being said, I want to extend a BIG thank you to all my patrons past and present- when you take one home it enables me to keep making new work. I'd also like to thank Brett Steen at Avante Art, Bryan Pease at Concrete Ocean, Brad Voss at Cuba Lakes, and Pedro Abbate at Foundation Grounds for hosting my events of the last two years- when most all the galleries in St. Louis wouldn't give me the time of day, you instead saw opportunity and decided to believe in me. We moved a lot of canvases, and I could not have done it without you.

Kevin

"Kevin" (Kevin McLane Memorial Portrait)
8 x 10", acrylic on masonite (framed)

Teardrop

"Teardrop"
24 X 30"
acrylic on canvas


“House” needed a partner for my Cuba Lakes showing in April, so I cranked out “Teardrop” in pretty short order quite recently. One of the few paintings I didn’t sell- Oh well ya know I liked it, so make yourself happy. Secretly, I'm glad to bring it back home.... The umbrella has been popping up in my work for many years, now a common symbol in the simple pictograph vocabulary that fills my work. The umbrella is “shelter” or “protection” in the language of my painting.

Fixed Heart

"Fixed Heart" 2003
aluminum, electrical cable, staples, acrylic and slver paint on cut 3/4" plywood approx. 11 x 14"


Was sorting out my Facebook page for SHAWART.COM tonight when I stumbled across this one from 2003, "Fixed Heart". A gal bought it at one of my shows in Springfield, MO at Randy Bacon back then. She had a daughter born with a heart defect, and it meant so much to her she wrote me the most sincere letter of appreciation...  it would have melted your heart. Folks say the nicest things to me occasionally- some very heartfelt reflections on what i painted. It honors me deeply, and I probably don't deserve any of it, but I felt glad it meant so much to someone.
CM Shaw
4/22/10

Uninterrupted Prosperity

Leslie entertains the crowd...


Kevin and Matt discuss my two newest works...


"Teardrop", 24 x 30" acrylic on canvas


SOLD!



The show at April 16th show at Cuba Lakes could not have been better- I sold thirteen out of the nineteen works I brought… I believe that is a record for me. My hometown of Cuba, Missouri really opened their arms as always, and that’s why I’m proud to be their son. Owner Brad Voss was on task, and the members of the club jumped in to help out with the almost unexpected throng of attendance for the dinner welcoming the touring Spyder riders, Myles Shaw and Leslie Santi’s concert, and my art show. It was standing room only. Just incredible…

My humble thanks to Brad Voss for going outside the box and rising to the occasion, everyone at The Cuba Free Press for always pumping my gigs here in St. Louis or at home, the Spyder riders for coming out for dinner and generous patronage, all my hometown folks and friends for picking up some work and backing me up every time, my lovely parents Patrick and Ramona, my brother Myles for his great performance and always being at my side, and of course my pal Leslie Santi for her beautiful music, the spark to make the whole thing happen, and always believing in me more than myself. Words cannot describe how much I need you to do what I do- you make me a better man. You made me the man I am today.

photos by Chris Case, Cuba Free Press

Show at Cuba Lakes Clubhouse, Friday April 16th

SHAWART STUDIO, ST. LOUIS, MO
MARCH 30TH, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Cuba Lakes welcomes St. Louis artist Colin Michael Shaw on Friday April 16th. An artist’s reception, free and open to the public, will be held from 8pm – 11pm. Cuba Lakes Clubhouse is located at 241 Highway O in Cuba, MO. A special acoustic musical performance by Leslie Sanazaro Santi and Myles Shaw will entertain the crowd throughout the course of the evening. The Shaw brothers and Mrs. Santi are all Cuba High School alumni.

Says Shaw: “This will not be the same as my recent showing at Concrete Ocean Gallery in St. Louis- Cuba will get their own special show with entirely different work. It will feature never before shown mixed media collages on canvas I made last summer, two new paintings made just this year, and a few other surprises. It will be a very colorful, modern grouping that I’m really excited about. Whereas the Concrete Ocean show in St. Louis was darker in nature, the Cuba show will be more innocent, more simply spoken… spirituality and love, life’s seasons- these themes run though this group of works. The recent show in St. Louis was a huge success with a lot of local buzz and press, and a lot of sales. Still, I’ve been looking forward to taking it home to Cuba, and have worked hard assembling a special show just for them. And hey, I’ve got two world-class singer/songwriters backing me up… I cannot lose!”

You can read all about the day to day of Shaw’s work at his online artist’s journal: http://shawart.blogspot.com/