I have been around fabric and stitching my whole life. I am a maker. I love things that have a human touch. I look at nature-plant forms, geometry, cell structures, bones, antlers, wings-to see the underlying connections these things have in common. My embroideries are straight forward. I proceed very deliberately one stitch and then another, each knot, each color a decision, meditative and slow, but always moving forward. I rarely rip out stitches.
My felt making is the opposite of straight forward. It is two steps ahead and one step backwards. The problem child. The art that acts out but is loved unconditionally. If I can't sleep or have a spare minute I am thinking about ways to construct things with wool roving and partial felt. The process is like candy for my ADD brain. Working backwards. Big whole picture, then part to part.
I have a quirky sense of humor that occasionally shows but also love making things that are simply beautiful. Craftsmanship matters to me. Sometimes I set difficult parameters for myself-just because. The challenge is to make things that show my hand, my skill, my vision.
Teresa Shields has always been drawn to fabric, thread, wool fiber, magnets and wood. Through embroidery she interprets abstract shapes found in the natural forms of sliced fruits and vegetables. In 2016 she began wet felting and now enjoys exploring the materiality of turning wool fibers into solid but soft hollow forms. Her work is often idiosyncratic and leave the viewer craving a tactile experience. Teresa exhibits her work throughout the United States and locally at Graver's Lane Gallery in Chestnut Hill and has won a handful of nice awards. She earned her BFA at Carnegie Mellon University and MFA at Mass College of Art. She is an empty nester living and working in Jenkintown, just outside Philadelphia, with her husband and two cats.
1991
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
MFA, Painting
1984
Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
BFA, Fiber
2020
Honorable Mention, Purely Abstract Show, Fine Line Creative Arts Center, St Charles IL
1st Place Award, Madeley National, Conroe Art League’s 5th National Competition, Conroe, TX
2019
Honorable Mention, Larkin Arts, Harrisonburg, VA
Jurors Award, Wayne Art Center Regional Juried Spring Open, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
2018
3rd Place, 3rd Annual Conroe Art League National Invitational Show, The Gallery at the Madeley Building, Conroe, TX
2017
Jurors Award, Small Works: Surface Design Association at 40, Surface Design Association Conference Exhibition, Portland, OR
2016
Jurors Award, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
Jurors Award, Abundance, Studio Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA
Third Place Award, Flowers and Gardens Juried Show, 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC
Best of Show, 5x5x5 Show, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL
Honorable Mention, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
1994
Jurors Award, Galeria Mesa, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ
1995
Purchase Award, South West Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
1997, 1986, 1983, 1981, 1980
Central PA Festival of the Arts, Outdoor Banner Exhibit, State College, PA
1982
Ellis Award, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Reed College, Portland, OR
Mass College of Art, Boston, MA
Rockefeller Library, Brown University, Providence, RI
Sacred Heart Gallery, Sacred Heart College, Hartford, CT
Stephan Kogler, Dewey Beach, DE
Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
Children’s Own School, Winchester, MA
Central PA Festival of the Arts, State College, PA
Publications
Redd, Adrienne Fallen Walls & Fallen Towers- The Fate of the Nation in a Global World, Nimble Books, LLC, Ann Arbor, MI
2016 – Present
Resident artist of the Fiber Studio at the Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA
2004-2015
Created one of a kind knitted, felted, appliquéd and hand sewn purses; sold locally through craft shows
1995 – present
Artist/Owner, Magenta Cat Productions, created one of a kind knitted, felted, appliquéd and hand sewn purses; sold locally through craft shows.
1999
Self published coaster sets Box of BEES, Happy Girl Lucky, Innies and Outies, Verve, Hearts a Flutter and Wing and a Pear. Sold in contemporary craft galleries and local craft sales and shows.
1998 – 2005
Self published card sets MOM in a Box, Primer for a New Mom, Primer for a New Artist, Mom in the House, Finding Mr Right, Sold in over 100 contemporary craft galleries throughout the US & Canada. Anthropologie stores sold over 10,000 copies of MOM in a Box.
1995 – 1997
Created, produced and sold handmade blank journals.
2008 – present
MARTIAL ARTS – Certified Kettle Bell Instructor, certified Girls on Guard Women’s Self Defense Instructor, local classes & seminars in the Philadelphia Area.
Solo
2017
Trending Threads, interactive fiber art show, Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA
1998
The Power in my Voice, Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH
1997
New Book/ New Life, “a journal of a wife,” Sol Mednick Gallery of Contemporary Photography, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1996
Teresa Shields: Handmade Miniature Books, Dubois Gallery, Maginnes Hall, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
2018
The Interconnectedness of All Things, Park Towne Place, South Tower Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2017
Nature in Art, C. William Gilchrist Museum of the Arts, Cumberland, MD
1998
Visual Conversations, Paint Creek Center for the Arts, Rochester, MI
2018
Women's Works 2018 - 31st Annual Show, Northwest Area Arts Council at the Old Court House Arts Center, Woodstock, IL
Finalist: 3rd Annual Conroe Art League National Invitational Show, The Gallery at the Madeley Building, Conroe, TX
24th Annual El Corazón Exhibition, Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas, TX
311 Annual ABSTRACTS Juried Show, 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC
A Winter Juried Collection, 3rd Street Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
77th Annual Members Exhibition, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
2017
small works BIG TALENT, Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
I Spy, Ciel Gallery, Charlotte, NC
Borders, Edges & Seams, Studio Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA
Small Works: SDA at 40, SDA Conference Exhibition, Portland, OR
Hopelessly Hopeful, Gray Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Women’s Works, Old Courthouse Arts Center, Woodstock, IL
2016 – 2017
Small Works Exhibition, ROY G BIV Gallery for Emerging Artists, Columbus, OH
9th Annual Art About Agriculture, Santa Paula Art Museum, Santa Paula, CA
2016
SQUARES, 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC
Abundance, Studio Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA
Flowers and Gardens, 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC
5x5x5, Jacksonville State University Mini-Works, Jacksonville, AL
Immersed, Grey Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Simplicity, William Penn Charter School, Philadelphia, PA
29th Women’s Work Show, Woodstock, IL
NEW BEGINNINGS, Impasto Gallery, Longmont, CO
Members Group Show, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
2015
Handmade Holidays, Somethings Looming Gallery, Reading, PA
MICROCOSMOS, 621 Gallery, Benicia, CA
TRANSFORMATION, The Art of Recycling, Arts Council/Cumberland County, Fayetteville, NC
Entangled, Some Things Looming Gallery, Reading, PA
Telling Stories, GoggleWorks, Reading, PA
Unrestrained, Some Things Looming Gallery, Reading, PA
ReCollection, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
2014
Annual Juried Show, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA
Annual Juried Painting Show, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
The Road to Here, B-Square Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
ReSourced, Art Fusion, Gallery, Pottstown, PA
2013
MamaCITA Retrospective, Pennsylvania Capital Building, Harrisburg, PA
Represent, with movie screening “MissRepresentation,” Hiway Theatre & Langman Gallery space, Jenkintown, PA
Begin: Hope, Faith, Resilience, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
2010
(W)holon, Traveling Exhibition, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA; Walker Fine Arts Center Gallery, Patrick Henry Community College, Martinsville, VA
2009
MamaCITA at Green Lane Commons, Manayunk, PA
2008
MamaCITA at the Fetters Mill Inn, Huntington Valley, PA
2008 – 2009
MamaCITA at MCGOPA, Inquirer Building, King of Prussia, PA
