Shirley Woodson is an artist and educator. She's the 2021 Kresge Eminent Artist. Her solo show, Why Do I Delight is up at the Detroit Artists Market through 10/23. You can download or purchase the new Shirley Woodson monograph, here.

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TRANSCRIPT:

ZAK: Shirley Woodson shares an art studio with her son. It's right off the highway on the west side of Detroit. But once you step inside, it's peaceful and warm. Her work cover the walls and they're stacked in piles on the floor. 

MS. WOODSON: That's a collage. A recent one I did about my family. 

ZAK: Ms. Woodson has been in Detroit since 1938 when her parents moved the family from Tennessee. She was just a baby. Today, she's one of Detroit's most celebrated and beloved artists. She makes big, colorful figurative paintings. And she's kind of obsessed with horses. 

MS. WOODSON : I do a lot of horses with women riders which I've been doing for a long time. But each one is a challenge. 

ZAK: Today she's gonna work on the front right leg of a burnt orange horse galloping alongside a short haired woman in white. Her work is part of permanent collections at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Kresge Arts recently named her their eminent artist of 2021. They wrote...quote "decades of success as an artist, paired with her exceptional and tireless commitment to ensure educational and career opportunities for all artists, have ensured the story of art in Detroit is far more inclusive and honest than it would have been without her efforts. It has also ensured her place as a revered and renowned pillar of Detroit’s creative community." Ms. Woodson's has offered creative advice to students for decades. And perhaps the most foundational art lesson she teaches is this.

MS. WOODSON : Well there are no wrong answers in your seeking to express an idea. And there's more than one way to get your idea across. 3 + 3 is 6. 4 + 2 is 6. And 12-6 is 6. 

ZAK: And since there are no wrong answers. When we're starting out as kids or adult beginners, Ms. Woodson teaches we don't need erasers on our pencils. And we don't throw our work away!

MS. WOODSON : Occasionally I would hear a crumple, crumple, crumple of paper. 'Can I have another sheet of paper? I said, 'We're gonna use all of that and remember. We have to keep all your drawing because we want to see the improvement. We can't see the improvement if it's in the waste basket.

ZAK: Before we go. I'm gonna leave you with a lesson you can try at home today.

MS. WOODSON : You need 5 sheets of...I was gonna say typing. But nobody types anymore. 5 sheets of paper. And draw a circle, free hand. Hold your pencil so that your hand is not touching the paper. And then place the pencil point on the paper and using your shoulder and the whole motion draw the circle and it can be big to take up the whole paper and go arond as many times as it takes you to see the circle come out. Remember it's your hand that's making the motion. And then you do 4 more. Then you can put something inside of those circles. Do not erase. Sign it and date it and put it in a folder. This may be your beginning. 

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