When Shyvon Paul isn’t helping to save lives as a nurse practitioner, she’s thinking about her art.
“I find so much comfort in creating art,” said Paul, a Brooklyn-based artist whose “Royalty Series” of works has garnered her exhibitions in Harlem, Art Basel in Miami, and soon, in Paris.
The full-time nurse began painting as a pastime in 2017, as the stress of the pandemic caused her to take her art more seriously. After she started to sell her work online, she got her first art show in Chelsea last year. Then, things began to take off: she soon had a residency at a ceramic studio in Brooklyn and is currently showing in Harlem.
For the past two years, Paul has been working on her “Royalty Series,” which consists of two large paintings of a king and a queen, as well as a collection of ceramic crowns. Paul said the intention of the series is to celebrate the beauty of blackness. The positive response inspired Paul to keep going and she is currently creating a throne for the series.
“Usually when I start a series, there's something inside of me that knows when to stop. And I haven't gotten that yet,” said Paul. Her work is currently on display at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem through January 26.
Paul currently works 10-hour shifts as a nurse four days a week. Her days off are usually reserved for her art and caring for her young son. She even sneaks in some time to paint during lunch breaks. Ultimately, she hopes to be able to pursue her art full time.
“My schedule Is always very tight,” Paul said.
After dealing with grueling shifts as nurse, Paul considers working on her work as a reprieve. She is not conscious of inspiration while painting, and rarely plans a piece before she begins working.
“I find that I'm inspired to create work during some of the most difficult times in my life,” Paul said. “I never know what it's going to look like. Sometimes I think I have an idea of what I want to make, but it's always different when I'm done with it.”
Though Paul wants to be a full-time artist, she doesn’t intend to leave her nursing experience behind. She wants to continue to help people navigate the challenges of health care as a medical consultant.
“I think the medical world is so daunting, and it's hard to understand when you have doctors and nurses speaking to you in a totally different vernacular,” she said. “If you haven't studied medicine, sometimes it's hard for people to comprehend what's being said to them.”
Next month, Paul will travel to Paris with an organization called The Fearless Artist and create two new works to be shown at Art Basel Paris. Later this year, she will have her first exhibition in Bedford Stuyvesant.
