Keira Shae (M.Ed) is a queer American poet, artist, photographer, and memoirist who lives in Salt Lake City. Her most recent exhibition of art and photography was displayed at Writ & Vision, Odd Duck Studio and the Provoeau Salon in 2023. In the same year, her poetry collection, Cigarettes & Saints, was released by Push Publications on Amazon. Shae’s critical essays on culture were published in the University of Illinois Press (2020), the BCC Blog (2018-2020), Exponent II (2020), and Segullah (2019). Her poetry has been featured in the collection Shades of Becoming, in 2019. Occasionally, she writes columns for a local magazine, Utah Stories. Lastly, Shae’s memoir, How the Light Gets In was published by BCC Press in 2018. The author narrated the audiobook for Audible. Shae now tours as a public speaker around the State. She is a school counselor and paints in her spare time.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I process my past and expand my future through art. It’s therapeutic. I have seen it work for so many others, too; I published a former professor who used poetry to grief the loss of his son to cancer. Art has magic to it. You know this, if you’re reading right now. I thought I was “world wise”, a runaway kid in Provo, daughter of a prostitute and meth addict, but since moving to Salt Lake City two years ago, as well as researching the City to better prepare for my projects, I realize I am such a small part of a very big sea. Your sea. Escaping my impoverished childhood as a foster kid gave me freedom from abuse and neglect. But we have two freedoms (according to Isaiah Berlin’s 1958 essay, “Two Concepts of Liberty,” and explored more modernly by Charles Taylor), the freedom FROM (such as freedom from abuse, thanks to foster care) and the freedom TO. The freedom TO is called Positive Freedom. This opportunity would do exactly that: It will help me BLOOM. Help me integrate into this City. This would expand my world, extending my connection to residents of Salt Lake from around the world. And THAT is where my best art comes from: curiosity, presence, gratitude, and connection; I’m a passionate lover of personal tales. I want to publish every compelling narrative over my life. Tell Salt Lake’s story with my skills in multiple disciplines. With this opportunity, you would allow me to simply open my gypsy-moth eyes and love. To share my pain and triumph, find a community. I certainly am willing to do the work, but your exposure makes it possible. I want to make a love letter to Salt Lake City, compose profiles of its extraordinary residents, and finally find my place in its art community.
IMAGES
Keira Shae, “The Tool and the Threshold,” 2021, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 48 in.
Keira Shae, “Toxic Masculinity,” 2022, mixed media, 48 x 36 in.
Keira Shae, “Found Hope” 2019, archival print mounted, 8 x 8 in.
Keira Shae, “Beguiled” 2021, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 24 in.
Keira Shae, “Your Eyes Will Be Sparkling with the Glass of Shattered Assu” 2020, mixed media, 18 x 24 in.
Keira Shae, “Drag My Cities to Your Seas” 2020, mixed media, 48 x 36 in.
Keira Shae, “APOSEMATISM,” 2021, mixed media, 36 x 24 in.
Keira Shae, “shattered,” 2020, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in.
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Categories: Painting | Photography | Utah Artists - S
