Bob Shelton

The foundation of my imagery has always been design rather than drawing, essence of form rather than objectivity. Feelings of content develop during the process of creation, not beforehand. I usually develop my ideas structurally through small collages as a basis: one not reproduced, but followed freely as a suggestive model. My ideas are guided by thematic arenas such as: RITUAL, ICON, BARRIER, PROBE, WINDOW, and ESCAPADE. My notion of creativity is the production of an idea non-existent to that point of its resolution. To that end, I tent to avoid the issue of ‘depiction’ of that already in existence.

Bob Shelton is a native of Memphis, Tennessee. With undergrad study at the University of Memphis and graduate at the University of Alabama, he taught design and drawing at Auburn University from 1964-1968. In 1968, he was contacted by Birmingham Southern College to develop a program in printmaking, which he taught along with two-dimensional design until 2005. In 1995 he devised a two-semester course for the Honors Program in film studies. He is the author of ‘A Cultural Study of the Art Film’, published by the Mellen Press of Lewiston, New York. An in-house version of the two-volume set, adapted as text for the courses International Film I and II, was presented as the Cannes Film Festival in 2003.

Working in all print media, oil on canvas, and stenciled enamel graphics, he has won many national and regional awards. His work is in public and private collections in Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Charlotte. He has been included in over sixty juried exhibitions.

Space One Eleven Involvement: Exhibiting Artist: Available Space 1990