I Feel Seen
I Feel Seen by Teresa Shields presents the artist’s unique perspective and craftsmanship as she draws attention to the female gaze. Through sculpted wool felt and intricate embroidery, Shields utilizes the traditional handiwork of women to create highly conceptual and unexpected objects that simultaneously evoke amusement and discomfort.
Residing near Philadelphia, Teresa’s creative journey started with interpreting abstract shapes from sliced fruits and vegetables through embroidery. Transitioning to wet felting in 2016, she explores transforming wool fibers into solid, yielding hollow forms. Teresa has exhibited across the United States, including at the Woodmere Art Museum, the Santa Paula Art Museum, and the University of the Arts, Philadelphia. She holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and an MFA from Mass College of Art.
Acknowledging that women are watched and judged their whole lives often without really being seen, this body of work encourages a reckoning with women’s existence in the world and their determination to create art that speaks to their own experience – unfiltered through a male gaze. Shields’ sculptural eyeballs follow and see the audience in a way that allows them to be observed while actively returning attention. The artist’s sculpted necklaces connect her process to the earliest adornment of human bodies and how women use external objects of beauty to create meaning.
Inspired by the artist Hilma af Klint, Shields utilizes circles, sacred geometry, abstract shapes, and a symbolic color palette for a higher purpose. Like Klint’s paintings, which were disregarded in her time for their feminine, spiritual, and abstract qualities, Shields’ installations harness the colors blue (feminine), yellow (masculine), and pink (love) to speak of ethereal and human connection.
Shields’ work is also highly influenced by her martial arts practice, which depends on balance, circular motion, and discipline. Similarly, the artist’s studio practice is meditative, self-directed, and dedicated. Through daily practice and creation, Shields combines female energy, color, and form to create work that celebrates women and elevates the act of making art itself.
I Feel Seen will be on view through May 4, 2025.