Artists Archives Celebrates the Life & Work of Shirley Aley Campbell, Who Died Last Year

Fri 3/8-Sat 3/16

Sun 3/10 @ 1-3PM

Painter Shirley Campbell Aley left a big footprint on the Cleveland art scene, and no wonder: she was 93 when she died in August 2018 and she began painting in the 1940s. Her work, which is archived at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve, went through many phases but her most familiar works are her intensely vivid portraits of people on the fringes of society such as motorcyclists, prostitutes, strippers or bullfighters, or lumpy-looking ordinary people most wouldn’t glance at twice but whose stories Campbell loved to hear — and then paint.

“People fascinate me,” said Campbell. “That bare canvas calling to me. Screaming at me… put something ON, for heaven’s sake. Tell me about yourself!”

She also taught at both Tri-C and the Cleveland Institute of Art, influencing younger artists and creating a wide circle of friends, acquaintances and admirers. And she was a co-founder of the Artists Archives, an institution formed to preserve the work of the region’s artists for the future.

Artists Archives pulls out her work for a short-run pop-up exhibit called Tell Me About Yourself: Remembering Shirley Aley Campbell. Work will be available for purchases to benefit her estate and archive more of her work.

On Sun 3/10 @ 1-3pm there will be a Celebration of Life reception to which all are welcome.

artistsarchives/tell-me-about-yourself-remembering-shirley-campbell/

Cleveland, OH 44106

 

 

 

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