Allowing your Inner-Self to Get Creative

While growing up as a child, my grandparents wanted to make sure that I had every opportunity to find something that I was really passionate about. I was enrolled in violin lessons, flute lessons, art lessons, dance lessons. You name it, I probably did it. The one thing I truly loved was my Tuesday night private art lesson with an amazing and patient teacher. I learned so much about still life composition, charcoal drawings and shadows, color spectrums and composition. I was only able to attend a few months when the lessons suddenly stopped and my grandfather stopped coming home and my grandparents got divorced. I will never forget the joy that those Tuesday nights gave me and I still have several of the still life charcoal drawings that I created at the tender age of 9.

Being creative in life was never an option, it was expected. I am truly grateful for the creative opportunities that were provided to me and they have continued with me through adulthood and my subsequent and ongoing career. I have worked in the software industry in various role and at some of the most creative companies in the world, and often times I found myself enabling customers to get creative, while my world was filled with trying to get some sort of a work-life balance. I was a road-warrior for many years, out of town Monday-Friday and back just in time for the weekend to take care of things at home all weekend, just to do it again the following week.

COVID changed everything. I was grounded. No more business trips. No more personal trips. No more flights. No more customer visits. Nothing. I was very lost and very alone in a city with 8.4 million people. Being a road-warrior was my identity and my life, I loved it. Now it was gone, so who is Shellie Hall (ex-road warrior) now? I reached back once again into my childhood and to my grandmother who taught me to sew at an early age, and I was really good at it. If only there had been Project Runway back then, I would’ve had my own clothing line. Back to my point, I was/am an excellent seamstress and I saw an opportunity and I grabbed it.

All over the world, mask recommendations and/or mandates were being put in place and where the heck are you supposed to get masks, especially fashionable or fun masks? Look no further, I morphed into the mask-making seamstress of Chicago. I cut and sewed hundreds of masks for my friends and my community. Next thing I know, I am being contacted to make customized masks with company logos or personalized sayings. I did my research and purchased a digital cutting machine called a Cricut Maker which cuts vinyl, heat-transfer vinyl, paper, fabric and other lightweight materials. I was able create the iron on logos, etc. without a hitch. I began getting creative ideas on other ways I could use my fancy new cutting machine and I started designing 3D layered paper art.

As I refined my techniques and gained confidence in my creative abilities, I gifted one of my creations to a friend as a housewarming present and he was highly impressed. He ask me to take a drive with him and to bring any other cool pieces of paper art that I had created. I packed up 4 or 5 art creations and we headed to the Andersonville Galleria in Chicago. The Andersonville Galleria is a retail market building that currently features over 100 artists & vendors offering apparel, jewelry, artwork, home furnishings, giftware, accessories, antiques, fair trade, and gourmet treats.

As we walked inside I was truly amazed at all the beautifully crafted items throughout the space. I knew that this is where I belonged as an artist. The owner loved my work and assured me that there was nothing else like it throughout the Galleria. He immediately offered me a spot as an artisan which I wholeheartedly accepted. I have since grown my location within the Galleria and have added many new tools including a laser cutter/engraver to expand my creative offerings. I have also learned a lot about woodworking, painting with acrylics and watercolor and leather-working. My next medium to learn is going to be Metalsmithing.

I am still working full-time in the software industry and am able to work on my Chicago Shout artwork in the evening and weekends since I am no longer a road-warrior, and I recently moved into a new role where there is very little travel involved, and I really have learned to love being home and spending time with just me and my creative soul.

Reigniting my creative light truly saved my sanity and really made me rethink just about everything in my life. If I can find my way out of the darkness, maybe you can too.