Ep 157 Shay Roy-Lewis Her Art Exhibit: Art, Advocacy, and Achievement

Shay shares insights into her impactful Gold Award project, an art exhibition held at the Overture Center for the Arts. The exhibit aimed to raise awareness about mental health among teenage girls in a positive light, showcasing the strength and creativity of young women artists from the Madison and Dane County area. Shay discusses her motivation to present mental health discussions more positively and highlights the submission process that led to the selection of 16 unique artists. The episode also touches on the themes explored in the artwork, including culture and sexual identity, and the positive impact the exhibition had on attendees. Tune in to learn more about this inspiring initiative and the power of art in addressing important social issues.

About Our Guest:
I have been a proud Girl Scout for eleven years, having begun my journey as a first grade Daisy in Troop 2303. I grew up in Middleton and am currently a junior at Middleton High School. I have always been an artist with a deep love for creativity and storytelling. I enjoy drawing, reading, writing, and travel. My recent trips include visits to Barcelona and Paris, where I especially enjoyed visiting the museums and historical sites. I am hoping to pursue a career in visual arts and am currently in the process of applying to college.

@herartexhibit on Instagram

www.herartexhibit.org

Her Art Exhibit catalogue on Amazon

Episode Transcript

The Hearts of Gold Podcast is brought to you by the Grow and Share Network, produced by off the Walter Media. Sheryl (00:00):
Welcome to Hearts of Gold. Today we have Shay with us. Hi Shay. Shay

(01:00):
to sort of carry across that message was through art and through the art of teenage girls in the Madison and Dane County area. So we I created an open call for the exhibit and received submissions from young women in high schools across the area, and myself and a couple of museum professionals from the Overture Center went through that submissions and through a jury process, selected 16 artists to participate in the show. And they each created such unique pieces of work to demonstrate, you know, their own experiencesthrough like culture and sexual identity and wonderful topics like that. So overall, it was a really incredible show and I found that many people were very impacted by it. I also created a exhibition catalog that listed each of the pieces of art included in the show, along with artist statements from each artist, sort of about their feelings and intentions with their pieces. And that is actually up on Amazon still today. Sheryl: For those who aren't familiar with the Overture Center, can you tell us what that place

is? Shay (02:00):
Yeah, of course. So the Overture Center for the Arts is a premier performing arts center in the heart of downtown Madison, Wisconsin. It's home to many Broadway musicals and orchestral musical shows and things like that. It's just a, a hub for performing arts and fine arts, and part of it is also there are, I believe, four galleries. For art galleries, and one of them, the one that my show was in, is called the Rotunda Gallery, which is facing the large windows right onto State Street. So I got a lot of foot traffic attention, which was really great. Sheryl

supportive. Of my goals, so we just got connected and everything kind of fell into place from there. Sheryl (03:00):
What did you learn about yourself and how businesses work by sending out those blind emails? Shay

was an incredibly massive support and she was actually the one who got me in contact with the Overture Center staff in the first place. And how did you connect with her? Again? It was just an email that I had sent out. I found her just so browsing and she seemed like a really cool lady with a lot of. A valuable experience that can teach to me a lot. Sheryl (04:00):
How did you go about curating the exhibit after collecting all the artists? Shay

trusting the artists to. To carry on their personal visions into what they thought would be best, because I didn't know what they were going to produce. I kind of just had to hope that it was going to fit in together. And they were all, they're all extremely accomplished artists, so it all worked out really well. Sheryl (05:00):
Did you stick with a specific medium or were artists allowed to use whatever medium there was their preference? Shay

and everybody who applied was so capable and amazing. And when you're working with other people, it can't always be exactly what you want. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices just for the. The whole of the project. So I think that was definitely a massive challenge to overcome. It's really hard. It's not fun, and sending those emails out was definitely the most difficult part for me I think. Sheryl (06:00):
You also created an Instagram account to promote the exhibit, and if people wanna see the exhibits there, there's artist spotlights on that Instagram. Can you tell us about the creation of that Instagram and how you managed it? Shay

(07:00):
And how long I was able to keep it updated with the artist spotlights, like you mentioned, and updates regarding different events such as the reception, the gallery reception, and the opening and closing of the exhibit as well. Can you tell us about that gallery reception? There were two, technically. One of them was for her art, for the her art exhibit solely, which was on September 10th, the day of the opening. And we, I was very lucky to have Channel 3000 come and do an interview with me on live television as well. That was an amazing experience and really testedmy public speaking skills and the turnout for the reception was pretty incredible. All of the artists. Came and brought family and friends and the gallery space was really packed. And there was just such a, such a cool energy in the room. And it was, yeah, it was a really proud moment for me outside of the reception. Sheryl: Do you have any other special memories from your project? Shay: Definitely reading the gallery guest book. We had a guest book right by the beginning of the exhibition where visitors were able to write their thoughts and feelings about the

pieces and things like that. And when I went through it for the first time, I was really. Just overwhelmed and so happy to see the impact that I had was able to make on people and just the messages that were received and yeah, that was really incredible. Sheryl (08:00):
Can you tell us about your time management skills you had to put into place for this? Shay

ahead. I. Getting head start on your final report as well is super helpful because it takes a lot longer than one might think and it's the final step. So even after you've completed your project, you've still got a lot to do. So I think it's good to keep that in mind and get a head start on it if you're able, so you don't get too overwhelmed afterwards. But overall it was really incredible. I'm just, I'm so thankful to Girl Scouts for having provided me this opportunity. 'cause this is never something I would've done without this organization. So. Sheryl (09:00):
Can you share your sustainability component? Shay

possibly just encourage other young people to pursue projects similar to this one. Sheryl (10:00):
What other Girl Scout experiences have you had? Shay

(11:00):
lucky to go to Paris with my mom for the second time. I went when I was younger at about. Eight or so years old. And it was always a big regret of mine because I was sort of at an age where I wasn't old enough to really appreciate everything that I was seeing. So for my 17th birthday, me and my mom went back and I was able to re-experience all of those pieces of artwork and museums from a completely new perspective, which was really special. I also went to Spain last spring break to visit my brother who was studying abroad. We went to Barcelonaand Valencia, which was really amazing. And this coming up. After school let's out in mid-June, me, my mom and my brother are gonna go to Peru to hike Machu Picchu and see some history and experience some full things. So I'm really excited for that. Sheryl: What are you thinking about for your future? Shay: I think I mentioned earlier, I'm also an artist myself. I'm, I like to draw and I'm interested in character art and animation, so that's a potential path for me. But I'm, I've also really also always been interested in art history. So that might

be another potential path. It's still trying to figure things out, but I know it's gonna be something art related because that's been my passion since before I could remember. So I'm really excited to see where life takes me. Sheryl (12:00):
What else would you like to share with the audience? Shay