Gallery2402
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gdshively@gmail.com
Artist’s Statement
My drawings are mostly facial studies of characters from the American West. I feel
that faces, more than any other visual element, convey a real sense of presence. I want
the graphic materials I use to act as a veil through which the viewer passes to reach
back into the reality of another time. The viewer should feel that the subject is
coming into focus as the grid surface begins to clear. Consequently my drawings have
a very layered quality. I use the drawings as a means of creating a bridge from the
present to another time.
George Shively
Biography
George Shively received his educational and artistic training in the Cleveland area. As a small
child, he was driven to draw and paint constantly. He graduated from the Cleveland Institute of
Art with a degree in Industrial Design. He also received a degree in Education from Case
Western Reserve University and a Master’s degree in Education from Cleveland State
University. He was a public school Art Teacher in northeastern Ohio for thirty years.
During his tenure as an Art Teacher, George exhibited his own work many times. Most of his
paintings were nature scenes, including landscapes, exotic wildlife and old barns. He
started painting realistic and fantasy murals in 1996. A few years later he started doing
decorative paining of furniture in addition to his murals and commission work.
George gets his artistic inspiration from several sources. He has traveled to India many
times to visit his spiritual teacher. While there, he photographed the foliage and ancient
architecture. He has also photographed some of the mountainous regions and ancient
architecture of China. During that trip, he gave a talk on coordinating group mural
projects at the China U.S. Conference on Education.
George is an avid hiker. For many years before moving to Arizona, he visited the Tucson
area and explored the Sonoran Desert and the mountainous terrain surrounding Tucson. He
finds great inspiration in the Sonoran Desert and the varied landscape where the desert
meets the mountains. His paintings are metaphysical dream-like visions of the southwestern
deserts. He is also fascinated with the history of the American West and does unusual graphic
linear drawings of old west characters.
George and his wife Diann, who is a Massage Therapist, moved from Ohio to Green Valley,
Arizona in 2004.
