Art statement for More Is Best (Too Much Is Exactly Enough)

All my life, I have been told that I am “a little over the top” or simply “too much”: too loud, too emotional, too strange and too visible. As a neurodivergent person — recently diagnosed with ADHD — my mind moves quickly, notices everything, and holds many ideas at once. 

More is Best does not apologize for any of it.

These 70+ works form a visual saturation. Pattern collides with pattern, colour stacks against colour and backgrounds refuse to quiet down.

The density is intentional.

The layering of marks, repetition of motifs, and insistence on ornament mirror the way my brain operates with beauty and distraction coexisting. The work embraces abundance rather than restraint. It resists minimalism. It resists shrinking.

There is joy here, but also intensity. The sheer number of pieces becomes part of the experience. Standing in the space may feel immersive, like living inside colour, like inhabiting a mind that rarely turns down the volume.

This show, like me, can be a lot.

But “a lot” is not a flaw. It is capacity, attention, and deep feeling.  More is not the opposite of enough; sometimes, it is exactly right

BIOGRAPHY

A mixed media artist and experimental ceramicist, Kathleen Shellrude is based on Treaty 1 Territory  (Winnipeg). Her artistic career began after a lengthy hospitalization in 2015, which prompted her to use art as a means of processing issues related to a personal history marked by disability, mental illness, homelessness, and addiction. After a residency at Art Beat in 2017 she has had 9 solo shows and countless group exhibitions.

Her work draws from personal narrative, lived experience, and a deep engagement with community. Working with both traditional and unconventional materials, she explores themes of resilience, disability, memory, and the overlooked. 

Shellrude is a founding member of Higgins Studios and has taught community-based art workshops at organizations including Red Road Lodge, the Spence Neighbourhood Association, and the Indigenous Family Centre, where she uses art as a tool for empowerment, healing, and storytelling.

Her practice reflects a commitment to accessibility, care, and the everyday aesthetics of survival and joy.

Her artwork can be found online and in person, at Tara Davis Boutique and UpBeat Artworks.