Art of hearts and minds

By Casey Neill
EMERALD’S Senye Shen hopes to touch hearts and minds with her artwork.
And the 44-year-old has just received a helping hand to do so.
Ms Shen won a solo exhibition in The Gallery at St Kilda Town Hall from Port Phillip City Council, and an exhibition budget of $1000 from the Toyota Community Spirit Gallery.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” she said.
Her linocut print Passing, which explores life’s impermanence, won her the prize.
It’s on display with entries from 44 other tertiary art school students in The Undergraduate exhibition.
“The first print was sold on the opening night, which is always an encouragement to the artist that others appreciate what you have made,” Ms Shen said.
She’s now in the third year of her Monash University Fine Arts degree. She was born in Shanghai, studied town planning in China, and moved to Melbourne in 1989 where she married and had three children.
“Art started as a hobby while looking after three kids at home, and I was able to fulfil my passion for art after all the kids attended school,” she said.
Ms Shen’s solo show will be held in March and April next year and will consist of installations and works on paper from etchings and linocuts.
Her works relate to space, movement, light and invisible forces.
“The aim of my installations is to provide an ephemeral experience in a transformed space,” she said.
Her goal with art is to do the best she can.
“And hopefully it will touch the hearts and minds of people, as much as it has given me such joy and pleasure of producing art works,” she said.
“We all have dreams, but I like to take one day at time.”
The Undergraduate is at the Toyota Community Spirit Gallery, 155 Bertie Street Port Melbourne until 21 October.