Why have you continued to support Big Bend Cares?
Sense of community has always been a value of mine, and considering I’ve lived in this area my entire life, giving back to my community helps me feel involved. I originally joined the BBC Board of Directors because of a strong drive to help and to also memorialize my best friend, Todd Myers, a member of the LGBT community, who died way too young, way too long ago. Although his death resulted from a car accident, he had constantly lived in fear of developing HIV/AIDS because he was gay. He himself lost many friends to this dreadful disease. There is such an awful stigma still, to this day, but yet we’ve come so far since Todd left this Earth so many years ago. If I can educate just one person, if I can touch just one soul, then I have helped. Big Bend Cares will always be a special mission in my life, and I’m so happy to see such a successful organization grow and thrive. I’m proud of the role I played in Artopia for so many years, it was this one event that made me realize that I’m not just an “artist wannabe,” I’m truly an artist. By meeting other caring souls who wear an artist’s body, I have been inspired to share the world my own visions and artwork. So long story short (if there ever was one), BBC touched my soul and will forever remain one of my passionate endeavors.
What drove you to start creating art?
My mom was the original “Martha Stewart” (although my mom was very nice and had no felony record, ha ha), and she always supported my creative endeavors, even if the first one was a cartoon written all over my bedroom walls with ink and crayon, and let’s not forget those numerous hand prints made with lotion, I must have been three years old. I built my own Barbie doll house, even with glued carpet, when I was five. I cannot remember a time when I wasn’t creating something, and/or truly making a mess – the two usually go together. (My poor mom.) I grew older (never grew up, never will) and started to hone my art skills. By honing, I mean I tried everything one could possibly do, from tie-dyed t-shirts, jewelry, knots, Celtic artwork, Shibori, beading, painting, batik, pottery, carving, why don’t I just list what I haven’t done?!? (Sculpture, but it’s on the to-do list.) Finally I did find something that consistently and always stays my number one passion: photography. Through my lens I can show you what I see, through the shutter I can capture a moment in time that will never, ever come again. There is beauty all around, even in the most minute things, you just have to look for it. My passion is finding – and capturing – that beauty.
Do you have a favorite album?
That’s a tough one, as my musical tastes are just as eclectic as my art, or my passions. But yes, I do, because I have a very vivid memory of this particular album: Pink Floyd’s Momentary Lapse of Reason. Soon after this album was released, I was in college taking creative writing classes. One of my favorite professors suggested that we listen to our favorite music to inspire us to write. I remember one night, with my headphones on, sitting back in my Papasan chair, and listening to the melodic rhythm of the paddle rowing in the water, and before I knew it … hours later I awakened with drool down my chin and my writing assignment untouched. But what a great album. It still inspires me to this day! (But I don’t fall asleep so easily.) Fast forward just a few years and my other favorite is anything with Dave Mathews Band. Anything.
Is there one painting or piece of art that can move you to tears?
Let’s start with music, as that is a favorite form of art that I have absolutely zero talent, but much appreciation for: Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata can move me to tears, especially when I envision what he was feeling when he wrote this particular masterpiece. Simple yet so heartbreaking, I think he must have felt such a soul-shattering sadness for the person he could not be with, there is such melancholy in those notes, yet so magnificently beautiful. The first time I went to Toledo, Spain (lucky girl I am!), we visited a museum that housed the most intricate, handmade, gold art pieces and other tapestries. These splendid pieces of jewelry, boxes, depictions of churches, etc., were so finely made, in a time when there was no machinery or even sophisticated hand tools, that I was driven to tears, it was that jaw dropping to me. The tapestries, that were hand stitched and weaved, dyed with ground bugs and indigo, to this very day, still look vivid and so lifelike. Wow. Now that’s craftsmanship. That’s worth a tear of joy! One other moment that was tear worthy was a trip to Ireland in 2010, and I attribute this to the universal artwork, the Earth we stand upon. In my entire life I have never seen so many hues and variations of green, I have never seen such deep beauty, from the rolling hills, the frilly sheep, the fairy trees, the old rock borders, the crumbling ruins, the friendly people, the heavenly skies, I remember driving through this country, tears streaming down my face, thinking “I’ve never seen such beauty.” Consider that Hallmark commercials can move me to tears, but beautiful art more so.
Where is your favorite place to be on this Earth?
Now that’s a difficult question because there are so many wonderful places to be on this Earth. I’ve been fortunate to travel the world, have my toes in the sand, my head in the mountains, my eyes pointed at the stars. But my very favorite place is the woods. Nature. Peace. Nothing but the sounds of birds, crickets, the breeze, and my breath. Nothing but the sights of trees, bushes, wildflowers, birds, squirrels, rabbits, deer, foxes, snakes, mushrooms, fungi, moss, you get the idea. The Lake Jackson Indian Mounds happen to have my favorite trails, now that’s where I feel at home.
To learn more about Schelley’s imagery, visit her website at schelleycassidy.wordpress.com.
