Visiting Artist

Carol Shelton

Visiting Artist from May 1st to June 30th, 2023

Artist’s Statement and Bio:

I am a Rhode Island native, and studied Art Education at Rhode Island College concentrating in studio painting. I worked for a number of years in graphic design doing ads for local newspapers, but my passion had always been painting, specifically in the en plein air style. My base of operations is my Warwick studio, Cove View, but I paint on location (around the state and beyond), packing my paints and equipment into my car and setting up my easel wherever I find inspiration. I also work in other media including printmaking, pastel, and photography. Architecture, nature, color and light are my primary focus. My work has won numerous awards in area exhibits and in 2017, I received a solo exhibit at Coastal Living Gallery in Wickford.
Looking back on my early artistic history, I’ve been drawn to making images from a very young age. After discovering a set of oil paints and a small painting painted on a pot in our family beach house, which I was told was attributed to my grandmother, I was completely smitten. From that point forward, painting became a vehicle for feeling and communicating my experiences, without which my quality of life would be greatly diminished. As my niece so aptly put in on a beautiful wooden box she made for my studio, “Art = Life”.