Shelley shanks fine art | portrait | perform

Shelley Shanks

As an artist and an activist, Shelley Shanks regularly participates in projects, education, and collaborations benefiting nonprofit groups making a difference in the world.  In 2000, Shanks initiated the organization Artists Breaking the Cycle, a local group of artists, musicians, and writers who work collaboratively with other community organizations on a variety of projects making the world a better place.

In 2001, Child Advocates nominated Shelley Shanks for the annual Peace Maker Award which she received from Wage Peace and the Houston Peace and Justice Center. Later Shelley was honored as special guest and feature artist at the 2002 Texas Psychological Association Convention in Austin, Texas. Shanks’ work benefiting children with parents in prison, focused on the importance of mentoring, was hosted by University of St. Thomas and endorsed by several local youth and service organizations, including Big Brothers Big Sisters. This series of captivating and evocative images continues to be used by several organizations and educational institutions across the country including the “Education vs. Incarceration” conference at the University of Illinois in 2004. In 2003, Shanks participated in the Houston Mayor’s Office Summer Youth Project at Texas Southern University painting and speaking out to inner city youth. Shelley has been quoted to say that she “uses her powers for good” and that she does effectively. Participating in a public art projects, bringing awareness to human trafficking; showing her work in traveling exhibits, teaching trafficked victims to paint as a form of release and healing, and speaking out to at risk youth.

Her dedication toward greater social justice and responsibility has been continuously highlighted in newspaper and magazine articles as well as radio and television interviews.  2005 Shanks participated in “Peace Jam” at the University of Houston with Nobel Laurette, Adolfo Perez Esquivelle, showing youth how art can be used as a tool to teach peace.

In 2006 Shelley Shanks’ live portrait of Dikembe Motumbo raising thousands of dollars towards building a hospital in the Congo. Shanks' was featured with Mayor Bill White at the 1000 Lights for Peace celebration at City Hall in Houston.  She is the featured artist for Houston’s downtown Via colori festival this 2007 as well as the Arthritis Foundations’ Art for Arthritis. 

Shelley continues to contribute, significantly, to both the art community and making the world a better place with her performance painting  becoming a must at high society and celebrity functions. Shanks work can be found in galleries and private collections internationally including Singapore, Bora Bora, London, Italy, and in several cities in the United States. She can be found on line at Shelleyshanks.com, Spec10.com, Art-Exchange.com,  womenarts.org, to name a few . Shanks is a member of the American Watercolor Society, Portrait Society of America, Women in the Arts,  Decade of Nonviolence,...