Sienna Shields facts for kids

Sienna Shields, born in 1976, is an American artist. She creates amazing abstract art. Her art often uses large collage pieces. Sienna also led a group of artists called the Yams Collective. They made a digital film. This film, called Good Stock on the Dimension Floor: An Opera, was chosen for a big art show. This show was the 2014 Whitney Biennial.

Early Life and Education

Sienna Shields was born in Alaska in 1976. Her parents were teachers. Sienna and her two siblings were home-schooled for a while. They lived near Anchorage, Alaska.

She went to Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. She studied Caribbean and Latin American history. Sienna graduated in 1998. In 2001, she moved to a shared art space. This space was called the DUMBO collective in Brooklyn, New York.

Sienna Shields' Artistic Style

Sienna Shields' art is shaped by the "energy and chaos" around her. She lived in art collectives for many years. This experience influenced her creative process.

Many of her artworks are collages. She uses acrylic paint and many layers of cut or torn paper. She puts these pieces together to make large abstract artworks. Sienna started working this way after college. It was partly because art supplies were expensive. She also creates other types of art. These include bead sculptures, mixed media art, and digital images.

The 2014 Whitney Biennial and the Yams Collective

The Whitney Biennial is a famous art show. It invites artists to display their work. It often helps young artists become more well-known. Famous artists like Georgia O'Keeffe and Jackson Pollock gained fame from it. The Biennial has sometimes been criticized. People have raised concerns about who gets invited and who is included.

Sienna Shields formed the Yams Collective. This group had 38 artists from different countries. Most were black and queer musicians, poets, actors, writers, and visual artists. They created a digital film about racial identity. This film was for the 2014 Whitney Biennial. Sienna was happy about the group's diversity. She said she often felt like the only black person at art events in New York.

One of the Biennial's curators, Michelle Grabner, visited Sienna's studio. She saw a short video Sienna made in Alaska. This video inspired the collective's project. They created a 53-minute digital film. It had 35 parts and was called Good Stock on the Dimension Floor: An Opera.

However, a controversial artist was also included in the show. This was "Donelle Woolford," a character created by Joe Scanlan. Scanlan is a white male professor. He hired actresses to pretend to be "Woolford" at events. The Yams Collective decided to remove their film from the show. They did not want their work shown alongside "Woolford's."

Sienna explained their decision. She said it was not just about Scanlan. It was also about the Whitney Museum's history. She felt the museum had not done enough to change its "white supremacist attitudes." The collective believed Scanlan's inclusion showed bigger issues of racism in the art world. Instead, their film premiered at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival.

Other Notable Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

• July 11-September 12, 2009: The Other Line, Brooklyn, Superfront Gallery (Artist in residence exhibition)
• January 7-February 6, 2019: Invisible Woman, Chicago, Kruger Gallery

Joint and Group Exhibitions

• November 6-December 20, 2009: Francis Young & Sienna Shields, Berlin, Kuma-Galerie.
• November 8, 2012 – March 10, 2013: FORE, New York, Studio Museum in Harlem (a recurring group show featuring important young minority artists).

See also

• Whitney Museum of American Art
• Artivism