Capturing the Moment with C.M. Shaw

Art is freedom to C.M. Shaw. There are no rules or limitations in her work.

“It’s almost like therapy,” Shaw said. “You can tap into that part of you that is free. It’s just a conversation between you and the creative source, and you can let go of everything or embrace everything.”

Shaw was juried into the Craft Gallery at Artisans United in February. The gallery, located on Hummer Road in Annandale, showcased a series of her black and white photographs. Each photograph included a hand-drawn orange leaf.

“The point is to give the leaf a context,” she said. “It’s kind of like you’re discovering the leaf when you just look down and you don’t see anything except that.” 

The Burke resident said that most of her photographs in the Craft Gallery are of normal objects or scenes that people wouldn’t think twice about, such as a manhole cover, the corner of a driveway or the base of a tree.

“I like to take those simple things and elevate them to show the beauty in simple moments” she said. “I like to create moments – interesting things that capture your eye on an intimate level.”

Shaw’s artistic pursuits transitioned from hobby to profession two years ago. She previously taught Japanese and English to high school students. The mother of three has formal training as a photographer, but it wasn’t until she began dabbling in paper sculpture and scrapbooking that she became fully immersed in her art.

The self-described collagist loves using different materials in her work. “That seems to be what I always do,” she said. “I take little bits of paper and little bits of this and that and mix it all up. Art is like this giant experience in problem solving. I like the ideas and the freshness that comes from thinking of something that you’ve never thought before and maybe nobody else ever has.”

Some of Shaw’s current projects include lamps with bases made of stacked antique books, dandelions made from black and white photos cut up into tiny pieces and ornate shadowboxes. She is methodical in her work, and her attention to detail is reflected in all of her pieces.

Shaw is currently organizing a barn sale in Burke next month. “The whole point is to do kind of like, Restoration Hardware meets garage sale meets craft show,” she said. “Basically, I want it to be fancier than a craft show, something that has a little bit of an edge to it.”

She is also waiting to get juried into the Craft Gallery with some of her newer work. In the meantime, she is simply enjoying the act of creating new art.

“It’s really exciting,” she said. “I work for two hours every morning and my kids have been nice enough to leave me alone. There are no rules, there are no lines and there are no boundaries. It’s just total openness. I like the freedom to be whatever without having to be in a little box.”