Today is our last Atelier Open Studio! Stop by to see past Scholastic Art & Writing Awards winners create new works of art in our first artists-in-residency program between 12–6pm.

Resident Sasha Shaw won a National Silver Medal Award for Art Portfolio in 2001. You can find her most recent work at this year’s Degenerate Craft Fair on December 10 and 11 at 159 Bleecker Street. Opening reception is on December 10 from 6–9pm. Be sure to check it out!

When did you first become interested in art? What inspires you to make art? As a teenager, I learned to love solitude. It went naturally with being a largely nonverbal person and a hybrid of Taiwanese and South Carolinian cultures. I viewed the practice of painting as a guarantee of time for slowness and reflection, a sort of recorded proof of uncontrollable perpetual wonder, and a way of solidifying layered as well as contradictory thoughts.

After attending the San Francisco Art Institute as an undergraduate, I gained the bittersweet customs of creating and examining my work through the lenses of art historical relationships, contemporary contexts, and professional practices. For inspiration, I am forever indebted to a great love of art, books, and music and the curious desire for a healthier world. I also look to the altruistic philosophy of Occupy Wall Street’s movement.

Describe your experience at the Atelier. My experience within the Atelier has offered me several resources that have in one way or another affirmed my commitment to being an artist. It has also helped develop my evolving sculpture practice by giving me installation experience, project spaces, monetary gifts as well as opportunities to meet peers, art lovers, and critics. I am grateful to the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and its contribution of extensive momentum toward my ability to connect to others.

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Brooklyn-based artist Sasha Shaw received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Shaw’s work has been shown in New York at Interstate Projects, Flux Factory, and The Degenerate Craft Fair. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, she resides in Prospect Lefferts Garden with her husband and two dogs. Check out more of her work at: http://www.articlebyarticle.com.

Have a question for Sasha or our other resident artists? Tweet it @artandwriting using #AWatelier.