Shaw Art - January 2025
To kick off the year for our artist highlights, we would like to shine light upon Tyrell Shaw (@Shawart365) .Tyrell is a native New Orleans painter from the lower ninth ward who has been exposed to art since child. In second grade, he attended gently Terrace elementary school, where they provided a creative arts class. His teacher told his mother that he had a deep love for drawing that goes beyond a regular child common interest. She insisted that he should be placed in the talented art class. He really enjoyed this because not only did it. Take him out a regular class. It allow him to focus more on just drawing and putting himself in a creative space. He attended NOCCA in high school, but not graduating because of hurricane Katrina. When he got to college, he attended Alabama State University. At this point art wasn’t really a focus for him as he played baseball and was really into finding a future in that. He says that growing up you usually hear that most artist aren’t really wealthy and being an athlete is definitely a route to take care of your family. Even though he had these thoughts, being an artist, always remained with him.
After school, he would start working. He was a Bellman at the Ace Hotel and would focus mainly on his job. Him and his coworker would talk about their aspirations of going beyond and pursuing their dreams. While his coworker would talk about opening a coffee shop and leaving this job behind Shaw would focus on picking up bags and making sure that the work was done. His coworker went on to do exactly what he said and opened up that shop. He would get quite a few good reactions from the small drawings he would do at work and this continued to push him back into that creative realm. He would call this often. “Tapping into your 8 year old self” and the reason why he enjoyed creating so much. He would then get back into painting and building his catalogue. This resulted the Ace asking him to put in the hotel. So now at this point is he’s getting commissions and also selling bell tags that he would draw on while working the door. Things are moving in the right direction and then Covid hits putting a halt on everything. With nothing going on and his girlfriend pregnant with twins, he decided to take a step back and focus more on the business aspect of being an artist. While still creating he would work on his website and what he calls “ being an artist as a profession 101”.
During this time he would fall into a slight depression and question whether or not people really wanted his art. A friend told him to take his work into a few coffee shops and get a gauge on their impressions . He would do so and after a few good reactions, it built his confidence back and allowed him to continue on in his creative process. By this time the hotel opened back up and there was a vacancy next-door. It was a studio that he had been eyeing in. This was the perfect moment to take his career to the next step. He’s been in his studio for years now. He refers to it ask his bedroom and allows him to be creative in his own space. Shaw is inspired by his family and the city that is a constant in pieces. A special moment that he holds dear was when he got to draw on the amenity card for Snoop Dogg when he worked at the hotel. He drew an older album cover of Snoop’s that would coming in town. He never knew if he really noticed it until some time later, when someone tagged him in a picture of it on instagram. It was pretty tattered at this point, but to see that he still had it in him possession was an incredible feeling. Shaw doesn’t really what’s in store for the future because stays focused on the present and making sure his feet are on the ground. He remains so appreciative of the journey that he’s been through because everything has set him up for his success. If you would like to get to know more about Shaw and his work you can follow his instagram page and check out his website Shawartstudiogallery.com. He really encourages people to visit his studio which is located on 600 Carondelet Street#130 in New Orleans. This allows visitors to step into his realm and get the full experience of his work. Have you seen a Shaw art piece yet?
You go through so many seasons and really don’t know what’s at the end so keep going. - Tyrell Shaw
