Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelly Lang.
Hi Shelly, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Well in a way, I am just getting started now, at least with the full expression of my art. But let me back up a little bit when I first moved to LA. It was in March 2012 I moved to LA from Paris, France. I had been in Paris studying and working in fashion. I had recently been divorced and knew I still wanted to build a career and at this point, I was afraid to trust my desire to be an artist. At the time, I didn’t believe I could paint what was true for me and be able to make a living with it, so I turned to fashion which I also love.
I believe that art and fashion are a reflection of the culture at any given time, and it is the view of ourselves through social happenings like war, unrest, social movements, technology, religion, science, philosophy and the economic climate that define a time and that shows up in design, fashion and art.
When I got to LA, I really wanted to create my own line, but I thought I’d work for another designer and continue to learn but I had trouble finding a job. I ended up playing around in Photoshop with a photo of a painting I had done of my niece floating in the swimming pool. In the process and exploration with many fabric printers in LA, I created all the prints for the small collection I made. The painting is called Water Goddess. It was important to me because it represented something about myself that I had been pushing down and I only began to realize it when my marriage wasn’t working.
My niece was 12 at the time and the painting is her in full color, openness and ripeness, her hair floating on the water and her legs dancing in the blue. For me, the painting is about youthful, feminine exuberance and I was on a journey to honor it in myself, my girls and all of the world. Later I realized it needed to be honored not just in women but in everyone.
It’s been a long journey since then. I created the small collection and hired a team to help me get it ready for production but then ran out of funds, so I still haven’t brought it to market. I have run a small business with a staff of about 15 painting instructors, I have built my own website on WordPress and created another lower price point, print-on-demand collection and sold collage art and now I am finally focusing on just the art for now. I still want to do the fashion in
some new capacity that releases the essence of the feminine in our world, kind of a joyful and spontaneous celebration.
Once I gave myself the time to really focus on the art I truly wanted to create, it started to grow immensely. I still have so much to explore, experiment and grow within my art and later my fashion.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has definitely been a sacrifice because I am creating something completely new, so there’s a lot of the unknown. I haven’t made much money and it has taken me a long time to figure it all out. Financially, this means I am less secure. I intend to thrive and be hugely successful, but I am in the unknown as to how it’s all going to unfold.
I have struggled with confidence that my ideas and expression is wanted and will be received but I keep moving forward and putting myself out there because deep down, I do believe in myself and what I am meant to share in the world.
I have worked at more than one business at a time to support my art and fashion business, taught myself how to do tech like build a WordPress site, managed employees, been my own marketing manager and secured new business.
I’d say the biggest struggle for me is to find and build my audience for my art.
The more buyers I can find for my work, the more I can support all aspects of my creations.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Currently, what sets me apart from others is my Pure Essence Power Portraits. They are a special kind of portrait where I do an intuitive reading on my subjects. I have trained extensively to develop my intuitive skills which is about reading the energy in and around us. I tap into my client’s energy field to see their genius and greatness, a part of ourselves we often lose connection with. This is the part of us that is divine, connected to all time and space and is unconditional love. It is who we really are and why we came here.
For the reading, we set up a session on Zoom which is great because the client can be anywhere in the world. During the reading, I also tap into the client’s wounds or limiting stories that are their fear-based view of themselves, others and the world. We are all similar, but our wounding stories are unique to us. So, I gather information about this part of them as well.
Then I create a portrait with this information to celebrate, guide and empower them on their path. It is almost like an oracle where, as they traverse their path, new insights reveal themselves from the painting to remind them to live their truest and most expanded self.
I am known for creating art that brings dimension, depth, and a beautiful balance of lightness, playfulness and strength. I am known for creating meaningful art that helps a person live in their truth. My tagline is “Love dances in the freshness of your exuberance”. It represents the feminine part of us that is open, trusting, vulnerable, exuberant, inclusive, compassionate, innocent and the kind of bold that comes from standing in our truth.
My intention is to help balance out the feminine and masculine parts of us individually and collectively and to create a world where we embrace all beings with unconditional love.
Currently, I am creating mixed media art and oil on canvas.
I am most proud that I am learning to get out of the way and allow my art to move through me into the world.
Any big plans?
Next month, I am headed to a special 10 day workshop in Venice, Italy to learn from gallerists and curators from around the world how to cohesively pull together an art collection conceptually. I received a scholarship to attend the workshop with a submission of my project.
The project is about identity and the social structures that define it overlaid with the richness, wealth and genius of the individual creative contribution of each soul outside of cultural or social identity structures.
I will explore race, color, sexual orientation, age and gender in the context of cultural expectations, rules, policy, laws, religion, and law enforcement in an attempt to uncover what’s real and what’s made up.
Some of my focus will touch on world events currently taking place like the deaths of women and the uprising in Iran and is also greatly influenced by living in LA, where we are the largest incarcerator of black, indigenous and people of color in the world. I will also touch on misogyny and current entrenched patriarchal structures.
It is a major premise of my work that at the heart of individual creative contribution is each individual’s connection to the divine, the pure creative force of all creation. A necessary component to greatness/genius is the willingness and personal practice of receiving. This is the feminine aspect of creating anything in the world powerfully and holistically. It comes from choosing to be in innocence or childlike openness, but it is not childish. It is inclusive and holistic. It doesn’t have a win/lose orientation and is connected to everyone and everything.
My plan is to sell my art to collectors worldwide.
The below pricing information is for the Pure Essence Power
Portraits: https://www.shellylang.com/power-portraits
The mixed media portrait of myself is also an example of the Pure Essence Power Portraits: https://www.instagram.com/p/CulWGgOL2vQ/
Pricing:
- 3000.00
- 5000.00
- 10,000.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shellylang.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamshellylang/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShellyLangCollections/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shellylang/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShellyLang_
Image Credits
DSC_5450 – Yana’s Photos DSC_6669 – Tatiana Gerusova DSC_6398 – Tatiana Gerusova DSC_6364 – Tatiana Gerusova
