Toledo School for the Arts presents Reagan Shull (Class of 2017) in the Martin D. Porter Gallery through the month of September. Please click the link below to schedule a private viewing of the collection.
Bio: My name is Reagan Shull and I am currently a senior at Bowling Green State University pursuing my BA in Film Production with minors in Studio Art and Marketing. I was lucky enough to grow up in the Old West End where I frequently visited the Toledo Museum of Art, only a short walk away, where my love for art grew. I studied Theatre and Video Production at Toledo School for the Arts, and was the Valedictorian of the Class of 2017. I have remained very much involved in the art and film scene in Toledo throughout my time at TSA and beyond and have interned under renowned portrait artist, Leslie Adams, and most recently at Hart Inc. as their Video Production Intern. I am currently working on production of my senior thesis film, This Must Be the Place (premiering in 2021), and continuing to hone my skills in traditional and digital art through commissions. You can find more of my art on my Instagram account, @artbyreaganshull, or my films on my Vimeo account by searching my name, Reagan Shull.
Artist’s Statement: The theme surrounding my pieces for this show is the title, Radiant Light. The reason I decided on this theme was because of what I believe to be the most fundamental part of realism portraiture art: light. I have always been fascinated by light, and in my art I see it much less about creating shapes and lines and much more about how the light paints a subject. As a filmmaker I also think about how light can shape how we view a frame, and what omitting something in shadow versus illuminating it in light can change an entire story. My art tries to emulate what light creates and doesn’t create, leading me to be very inspired by windows in particular.
As an artist (and especially a student!), it can be difficult to feel like you can stand strongly on your skills and work when you can find amazingly talented and gifted artists all around you. I wanted my art in this gallery to also represent my recent discovery that one person’s talent does not erase your own, and that each person, artist or not, can be their own radiant light. I like to think that in art and in life, I am enough for what I have set myself out to accomplish. Everything I have to succeed is already inside me, and through honing that through time, patience, work, and practice, I can be an artist that I myself am proud of. My ultimate hope is that those who view my work can also feel that same way about themselves and whatever art they create, too.
I never forget that I have a lot of learn as a young artist, but I implore those who view this gallery to think about the radiant light you shine into the world, whether that’s through art, teaching, nursing, leading, or whatever else you give, and continue to give it. Continue to shine your light. It’s in the darkest of times that it is needed most, and I fully believe that each one of us already has the radiant light within us that we need to shine our way through anything.
Thank you for viewing my art show, Radiant Light.