ON VIEW
May 9 – 18, 2024
EXHIBITION OPENING
Thurs, May 9, 5 – 7 pm
May 9 – 18, 2024
EXHIBITION OPENING
Thurs, May 9, 5 – 7 pm
SamShieldsFineArt.com
@Soplungo_Art
Samantha Shields
Samantha Shields is a painter based in Calgary, AB, Canada. Her paintings explore issues related to gender roles and family with her most recent work focused on fatherhood and masculinity. She has exhibited in Canada and the U.S., including at the Quentin Doolittle Gallery in Calgary, AB, and the ICA in Portland, ME. Shields grew up in Massachusetts and served as an Arabic translator in the U.S. Air Force. She later received a BFA in Architecture from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. After working as an architectural designer for two years she decided to switch careers and pursue her passion for painting. She is a 2024 MFA candidate at Maine College of Art and Design.
My painting explores issues of family, gender, masculinity, and fatherhood through analysis of family photographs and advertisements. This topic is particularly relevant today because the gains women have made in education and careers over recent decades have led to shifts in the nature of the nuclear family. Traditional notions of masculinity based on strength and control are being questioned by society and renegotiated by men, and many fathers can no longer derive their value through their ability to provide financial support. Through this series, I present an image of the modern father, a nurturing and sensitive man redefining masculinity.
Through flamboyant color palettes and playful approaches to form, I aim to present imagery of fathers and children that normalizes their intimate bond and makes the viewer question their preconceived notions of how we value men, specifically in the context of the nuclear family. Form is simplified to create points of mystery in these otherwise representational paintings. This allows the images to be read in multiple ways and for initial reactions to be re-examined. The color palette of the paintings is meant to challenge both the idealized childhood aesthetic presented on social media and the traditionally masculine color palette of grays and blues. Vibrant colors are combined in discordant ways that signal a disruption and a departure from how fathers have been portrayed in the past.
@Soplungo_Art
Samantha Shields
Samantha Shields is a painter based in Calgary, AB, Canada. Her paintings explore issues related to gender roles and family with her most recent work focused on fatherhood and masculinity. She has exhibited in Canada and the U.S., including at the Quentin Doolittle Gallery in Calgary, AB, and the ICA in Portland, ME. Shields grew up in Massachusetts and served as an Arabic translator in the U.S. Air Force. She later received a BFA in Architecture from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. After working as an architectural designer for two years she decided to switch careers and pursue her passion for painting. She is a 2024 MFA candidate at Maine College of Art and Design.
My painting explores issues of family, gender, masculinity, and fatherhood through analysis of family photographs and advertisements. This topic is particularly relevant today because the gains women have made in education and careers over recent decades have led to shifts in the nature of the nuclear family. Traditional notions of masculinity based on strength and control are being questioned by society and renegotiated by men, and many fathers can no longer derive their value through their ability to provide financial support. Through this series, I present an image of the modern father, a nurturing and sensitive man redefining masculinity.
Through flamboyant color palettes and playful approaches to form, I aim to present imagery of fathers and children that normalizes their intimate bond and makes the viewer question their preconceived notions of how we value men, specifically in the context of the nuclear family. Form is simplified to create points of mystery in these otherwise representational paintings. This allows the images to be read in multiple ways and for initial reactions to be re-examined. The color palette of the paintings is meant to challenge both the idealized childhood aesthetic presented on social media and the traditionally masculine color palette of grays and blues. Vibrant colors are combined in discordant ways that signal a disruption and a departure from how fathers have been portrayed in the past.
The MFA Thesis Exhibition for the Class of 2024 is a multidisciplinary exhibition unified by an urgency each of these MFA candidates expresses for what they see as fundamental to our shared experience of an increasingly disconnected world. With an emphasis on the personal, and at times the anecdotal, the artwork featured by these 12 artists varies in media to include ceramics, installation, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, video, sculpture, and zines. Seen together, these thesis projects hybridize a range of conceptual themes and material approaches as they relate to visual culture, the political landscape, and contemporary art practice. The nature of this work and research demonstrates the caliber and cultural relevance achieved by these graduates of Maine College of Art & Design’s Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program. Our studio-based curriculum creates a transformative learning experience and is designed to encourage students to follow where their work leads them, supporting them to define a sustainable vision for their own art practice through individualized research, critical analysis, and curatorial experimentation.
Institute of Contemporary Art
at Maine College of Art & Design
522 Congress St. Portland, ME 04101
Gallery Hours:
Wed–Sun, 11:00am–5:00pm,
Thursday, 11:00am–7:00pm