Welcome to The
Articles and Interviews Archive!
Learn more about Shelby Fleming, her studio practice, and where she draws inspiration from to create her sculptures an installations. Explore her participation in panel discussions, local and national publications, and interviews. Then dive into her thesis "Gut Feeling" published by Scholar Works at The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
2025 LIAEP Award
The Lighton International Artists Exchange Program
The Lighton International Artists Exchange Program (LIAEP) works to make the world a smaller place by giving artists of different cultures the opportunity to work together, in the hope that lasting friendship and understanding will develop.
The program provides support for mid-career visual artists and arts professionals to travel to international residencies and artist communities and for foreign visual artists to travel to and work in the United States.
This award will fund travel and supplies for my 1 month residency in Fisker, Finland in October 2025. During this time I will be focusing on integrating Digital Fabrication methods more cohesively into my studio practice.
October 2025 Artist in Residence
Fiskars Village, Finland
The Fiskars AiR mission is to stimulate the professional exchange and networking between creative professionals in Fiskars Village and overseas and to enrich the local community by the new insight that the residency visitors can bring into the community.
During my 1 month residency in October 2025 I will be focusing on reinventing my studio practice by incoporating Digital Fabrication methods in order to accommodate my newly developed disability.
Fiskars Village Artist in Residence
September 2024 Artist in Residence
Chateau Orquevaux Artist & Writers Residency
In 2022 I received my acceptance letter to Chateau Orquevaux Artist and Writers Residency and worked tirelessly over the next 2 years to raise the remaining funds to cover fees and travel. Upon arriving at the chateau settled in East France I was unpacking my bags and received an email from Mid-America Art Alliance informing me that I had been awarded the Practicing Artist Grant through the Artist 3 60 program. I breathed a sigh of relief and settled into exploring France, making new international connections, and exploring new ways of making artwork.
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During this 1 month artist residency I focused on small Flemish painted relief sculptures and abstract drawings inspired by the microscopic body. Partnering with Shireen Ikramullah Khan we started a collaborative mixed media drawing called, "Scroll Sisters." The 12in x 1800in drawing centers around the theme of intersectionality, a framework for understanding how different social identities overlap and create unique experiences for people. This ongoing project is shipped back and forth as we continue to weave together our styles and experiences.
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On a day trip to Dijon, France we were surrounded by: tasty treats, medieval, Gothic, and Renaissance architecture, and Flemish painting at The Musee des Beaux-Arts.
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In Paris, France I soaked up everything I could: the Efile tower, the Seine River, The Louvre, a freshly pressed Belgian waffle delicately topped with strawberry slices and smothered in nutella. At The Centre Pompidou I was accompanied by Australian rock star Penny Ikinger and we explored the surrealist exhibition and found Marcel Duchamp "Fountain."
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This residency was made possible by
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The Denis Diderot Grant
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Chateau Orquevaux Emerging Artist Grant
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Artists 360, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance, made possible through philanthropic support from the Walton Family Foundation.
2024 Artists 3 60 Grant Recipient
Practicing Artist
Mid-America Arts Alliance
The Artists 360 program is designed to ignite the careers of individual artists through money, strategic management, and mentoring. The 2024 grantees will be the first Artists 360 cohort to benefit from practice-based funding, which will allow them to apply the grant to their overall creative development rather than the funding being tied to a specific project.
Fifteen annual practice-based grants of $10,000 are awarded to individual practicing Northwest Arkansas artists. Practicing Artist 360 Fellows participate in the fall Artists 360 professional development retreat and continue to receive support through One-On-One coaching sessions with peer facilitators, meetings with a designated small peer group and facilitator, and cross-cohort networking at the annual spring alumni retreat.
A Year in Review: 2023 Artist Award Winner Shelby Fleming and Her Unexpected Challenges
The Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 2024
I had lofty dreams when I applied to the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts 2023 Artist Award. I was going to start my second wearable sculpture fashion line and rent a larger studio to accommodate my massive vision. Little did I know a week after being awarded the grant I would have unexpected surgery to remove my gallbladder, from which I am still recovering........
Shelby Fleming, The Focal Point
Opening of the Children's Safety Center of Washington County
Biennial Juried Artist Registry
The Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts
The National Museum of Women in the Arts is the first museum in the world solely dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing and literary arts.
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Explore the 2023-2025 Artist Juried Artist Registry curated by Matthew Bailey, Gallery Director and Assistant Professor of Art and Design University of Arkansas Fort Smith.
Interview with artist
Shelby Fleming
The Arkansas Art Scene Blog, 2021
In this interview style article join Shelby Fleming and Phil Mayeux as they explore Fleming's artistic background, how her art practice developed, and dive into her some of her larger bodies of work such as "Gut Feeling," "The Break Down," and "Brittle."
How Digital Fabrication has Changed Art Making
Lecture, Fayetteville Public Library, 2023
In this engaging event, you'll gain a firsthand perspective on the dynamic shifts and innovative trends shaping the creative landscape. Acadia and Shelby, both distinguished artists in Fayetteville, will explore the intersection of traditional and digital art, sharing their experiences and artistic journeys. Discover how technology and digital tools have transformed their creative processes and broadened artistic horizons.
Whether you're an aspiring artist, an art enthusiast, or simply curious about the digital art world, this presentation promises to be a thought-provoking and inspiring dive into the ever-changing realm of visual expression. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from these artistic visionaries and join the conversation on the future of art and design!
Interform Emerge 3 Designer Cohort, 2021
Interform, Springdale, AR
This 6-month fashion mentorship residency consisted of 8 hour Saturday courses and lectures centered around the creation of garments and building a brand identity. At the conclusion of the residency our works created during the residency walked the runway during NWA Fashion Week at The Momentary Art Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas.
The base of each design is inspired by medical field attire and explores the theme of the abject body. The runway became a stage, telling a larger narrative. The audience, unaware of it, became a medical waiting room.
Look 3, Momentary 2022.
Photographer: Meredith Mashburn
Model: De'Von Lorenzo
Gut Feeling, 2020
University of Arkansas,ScholarWorks@UARK
Through curated space and abstracted sculptures that reference the viewer’s body, Gut Feeling, acknowledges the viewer’s experience as the focal point of the exhibition. I designed the whole gallery as an art object using both positive and negative space. The sculptures act as one unified system that guides the viewer through the exhibition in a counterclockwise rotation inward. The viewer follows the forms as they puncture through the walls of the gallery, while considering their own body’s relationship to the forms being seen. The viewer directly engages with the scale of the forms, sculptural placement, and sensory experience; these elements stir humbleness in the viewer by tugging on the string that connects all of us despite our difference, our abject bodies.
Gut Feeling
Steel, Plastic, Acrylic
242.5x405x168in. 2020
More Articles coming soon!