Meet
Mary Beth Shaw
Mary Beth is an experimental mixed-media artist who loves the happy accident. Expect bold marks, unexpected materials, and the freedom to make something that's entirely your own.
Upcoming ToursOverview
Mary Beth spent eighteen years in the insurance industry before leaving in 2000 to reignite a childhood love of art. She started with collage paintings, and these days works primarily in her travel journal. She’s a full-time painter and author. Mary Beth is also the founder of StencilGirl Products. She’s written two books: Flavor for Mixed Media and Stencil Girl.
She’s an intensely sensory traveler, and her surroundings — a tree root, the sound of waves, light falling across a path — shape her work directly wherever she goes. “Doing an Art Walk is perfect for me,” she says, “because my surroundings tend to influence me quite a bit.” Her top priority as a teacher is helping guests find their own creative voice rather than imitating hers.
Off the page, she lives with her husband and three cats.
Medium: Mixed Media
Join in: Italy, France
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Artist Interview: Mary Beth Shaw
How do you work? What is your teaching style?
I fly by the seat of my pants and that is the way I like it. Doing an Art Walk is perfect for me because my surroundings tend to influence me quite a bit. When exploring new places, it is fun to wander and then wonder with words and art in the pages of our journals. Being on an art vacation is an adventure that we can preserve to live over and over again.
What attracts you about travel journaling?
Absolutely everything. I am an extremely sensory person. Because of this, all of my senses are on high alert when I travel. I can be distracted (in a very good way) by something as simple as the shape of a tree root or the sound of the waves. I like the terrain of land, looking at maps, people watching, listening to music and being moved to dance. Life is my inspiration.
What inspires you?
Basically I am inspired by the beauty and wonder I see in the world. That and the desire to capture it and share it with others. Then they too might experience some of that same wonder in their own hearts and minds.
Why do you do what you do?
I love Mixed Media. For me, it seems like art for people who want to try it all. I started out making collage paintings many years ago. These days I work mainly in my journal but utilize a variety of supplies, such as paint, markers, pencils, collage and found objects. A collection of disparate items thrills me as I decipher and interpret their presence in my life.
Why do students attend your courses? What will they get out of it?
My art vacation students tell me I have helped them develop their own voice. That makes me very happy because it is always my top priority. I give enough instruction that a student knows what to do, to be there for guidance, but also to facilitate originality. In my art classes we laugh, we learn, we love and we live experiences through art. Plus it is always fun.
What is your background?
I was in corporate America for 18 years until I intuitively felt life had more to offer. As a result, I started making visual art, then exhibiting, and finally teaching. I started a stencil company along the way. I delight in turning my brain off so I can allow the muse to guide me.
What have you learned from creating while you travel?
So very much, but primarily to live in the moment. The ability to preserve the moments in art is a gift. Travel gives that to us.