Nickel Plate Arts in Noblesville is highlighting artists Sheldon Shalley, Joy Tilson Cobb and Mark Timmis this month at three different locations in Hamilton County.
Shalley, a psychotherapist, uses dreams, mindfulness, hypnotherapy, shamanic healing and energy medicine to treat clients. With those tools, Shalley said he uses art to connect with parts of the psyche that can express and heal painful stories.
Shalley’s exhibit, “Nebulas and Stardust,” can be seen in the Stephenson House on the Nickel Plate Arts campus, 107 S. 8th St., Noblesville. Shalley uses photos of outer space as his inspiration and creates paintings inspired by photos of nebula and stardust to honor a connection to the stars.
Shalley’s art honors his encounters and experiences during his dreams and meditations, which help him connect with them more deeply, according to Nickel Plate Arts, which said that he often sees energy in matter.
“When working with a client, I may see what is vibrating in their field. All matter is energy at its deepest level,” Shalley said.
The exhibit can be seen noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Shalley will also host a special visual journey of discovery through the Fairy Stardust event at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. April 22 at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on the Nickel Plate Arts campus during Welcome to Fairyville, a four-day event that focuses on fairies, gnomes and magical creatures. The 30-minute creative sessions are for young artists in grades 1-6 with no registration required, organizers said.
Timmis’ artwork can be found on the second floor at Meyer Najem Construction, 11787 Lantern Rd.n Fishers, this month from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Timmis, who taught as an art professor in Evansville before transitioning into the IT field, said being a process-oriented person is where his worlds of technology and art connect.
“Painting for me is creating a problem and solving it, plain and simple,” he said. “While it brings a lot of satisfaction, it can also bring terror.”
Timmis said he embraces the belief that his artwork is the only thing in his life that he can honestly say is all him.
“Our experiences inform every aspect of us, and I make art to fill a place in me that belongs only to me,” Timmis says. “A place where no one can tell me what is right or what is wrong. I own it. It is me, and I am it.”
Tilson Cobb’s work is also being recognized this month. Her experience as a studio assistant for an artist who did silk painting and had designed a clothing line is what guided her in what she truly wanted to do, according to Nickel Plate Arts.
Cobb’s love for colors and natural talent for replicating led her to try watercolor painting, needle felting, and wet felting, the release said. Tilson Cobb began studying renaissance scroll, but realized these practices did not have the ability to fulfill her passions.
However, she said acrylic pouring was something she saw on the internet when she was researching abstract art inspiration for a large painting she was making for a beach condo. That led her to be inspired by others who would go through the process and share their work with others with the inspiration eventually leading to the creation and naming of her exhibit, “Free Flowing.”
“You can get pretty results as a beginner, even if you don’t see yourself as an artist,” Tilson Cobb said.
She said Free Flowing not only describes the art itself – the flowing water feel of most of her work – but also the process has to be free flowing.
“The paints combine in unpredictable ways as they’re poured onto the canvas, and that’s when you need to be willing to let go and possibly head in another direction than what you’d planned,” she said.
Tilson Cobb’s exhibit can be seen at Four Day Ray Brewing, 11671 Lantern Road, Fishers, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Members of the public can meet Tilson Cobb at a reception from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. May 22 at Four Day Ray.
