Shanley Stuteville
Meet Shanley
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Preferred medium: Digital
About me: I am a hobbyist and create my art at home.
About the artist:
I used the digital art program Procreate to create this piece. The digital brushes I used to create the piece were downloaded and modified by me. The piece was then printed onto a 24x16" canvas.
When did you begin your art career?
I have been creating art ever since I was young. My mom is very creative and my aunt is an artist. I still remember them sitting me down on the floor with paper and finger paints around the age of 3. My appreciation for art continued to grow as I did and art was always one of my favorite subjects in school. In the future, I would like to incorporate art into my career as a therapist, as I definitely believe it is a wonderful method of self-expression and can even be healing in some ways.
What is your connection to the neurosciences?
I was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 3 and attended regular neurological appointments and received neurological testing at Cook Children’s Medical Center from the time of diagnosis to the age of 21, when I had my surgery. Consistent exposure to neuroscience and neurology played a large role in leading me down the career path of psychology. To me, neuroscience remains one of the most fascinating fields in science and medicine, alongside the clinical practices of psychology and neurology.
What do you hope people feel, think, or learn from your art?
I wanted to create something bright and cheerful that the children would like but also that conveyed my own story. When people view my art, I hope the bright colors spark a sense of joy and hope in them, because that's the sentiment at the core of my piece.
What does your art mean to you?
The rainbow coming out of the brain represents my journey with epilepsy. The storm, lighting strike and discord in the rainbow represents my diagnosis at age 3. The three figures at the top with umbrellas represent the doctors (including Dr. Perry, Dr. Donahue and Dr. Kelfer) who helped me through everything. I made the umbrellas triangular as a nod to Cook Children’s logo. The doctors are passing an umbrella on to the figure sitting down on the rainbow (me) so that they will be prepared to move forward into the future (this part represents the brain surgery I had). The last part is the figure walking into the sunshine (a large neuron) which is now able to help others since they were helped in their journey.