Capital City Arts Initiative

Online at: https://youtu.be/KuO3iBlaHJI

Shafer Interviews Chung
Nevada Neighbors Talk

Due to the Covid-19 virus, CCAI presented this illustrated talk, Artist Studio Interview with artists Paula Chung and Phyllis Shafer online. The event is part of CCAI’s ongoing Nevada Neighbors speakers’ series and is posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/KuO3iBlaHJI

Shafer’s interview is a companion event to Paula Chung’s Impact exhibition in the Courthouse Gallery. Paula Chung’s Impact works address violence on sports fields, battlefields, and the streets. Through the use of medical imagery, she illustrates how violence affects us all.

Chung bases her work on enlarged MRI medical scans for their beauty and universality. She searches for images on the Internet or receives them from friends and acquaintances; she and then converts and manipulates the images using Photoshop. After transferring and enlarging the MRIs onto a water-dissolvable film, she uses multiple-colored threads to machine embroider and create the desired values and hues. She sews on different substrates including used tea bag papers, mulberry, and rice papers to convey a sense of fragility and impermanence. The enlarged pieces invite the viewer to become a part of the experience. Photographs of her work are available at http://paulachung.com/

Chung said, “Shafer is always inspiring students and pushing their limits. She is there for each one. She brings the best out in everyone no matter their level of artistic development — she’s a real treasure.”

Shafer is currently Department Co-Chair and Gallery Director at Lake Tahoe Community College where she has taught since 1994. Stremmel Gallery in Reno, Nevada, represents her work. Shafer became a mentor to Chung through the Lake Tahoe Community College’s art classes and encouraged her artistic development since 2010. www.phyllisshafer.com/

Chung lives in Zephyr Cove, NV, where she gardens and maintains her art practice. Originally from southern California, she moved to Lake Tahoe upon retiring from public school teaching. She began taking art classes at Lake Tahoe Community College, where she began her studio career as a quilter, creating large silk abstract florals. Continuing her work with fibers, she experiments with different substrates, techniques, and now emphasizes social issues.

Shafer completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at State University of New York (SUNY) Potsdam, in 1980. From 1981 to 1985 Shafer lived and worked as an artist in New York’s East Village before moving to the West Coast. She completed her Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1988.

CCAI shares its online links with the public and with partner schools’ students and faculty.

The Capital City Arts Initiative is an artist-centered not-for-profit organization committed to community engagement in contemporary visual arts through exhibitions, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online activities.

The Capital City Arts Initiative (CCAI) is funded the National Endowment for the Arts, John and Grace Nauman Foundation, Carson City Cultural Commission, Nevada Arts Council, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, U.S. Bank Foundation, RISE, NV Energy Corporation, Southwest Gas Corporation Foundation, MarBil Group, and its sponsors and members.

top image: [l-r] Phyllis Shafer, Paula Chung at the Halden Gallery reception, April 2019, South Lake Tahoe, CA
bottom image: Nevada Neighbors Shafer/Chung online event flier