Hi I am Shal Mines and back in 2023 with the support of my family I started my own studio. I am a mixed media artist and a prop maker for cosplayers. I create carvings from books and have just started to leather paint on clothing and bags. My studio ethos is to re use and re purpose materials for art project as I am very much driven by items that are really destine for the bin, the age of the item, was it loved or was it a necessity that just got left in a cupboard and why did it survive, what can I do with it now?
I have always been a creative but never really sticking to one medium or subject matter I bounce around from topic to topic and nearly 10 yrs ago I discovered while being back in higher education that I had a spectrum disorder called Aphantasia, ( the inability to visualise with your minds eye) I began to understand how I worked as an artist as I never could before. To understand that I did not visualise images in my mind as the majority of the population can I realised this freed me in my design process and understand why and how I work the way I do

After completing my BA in Art and Design this lead to a journey of learning and processing on how I wanted to direct my practice now. My studio is now moving forward in creating one off book carvings small and large and various repurposed art works with the core prospect that the item still looks as it did from useful item but now been juxtaposed into a work of art as well.

I am continuously looking for collaborations and local projects to take on work in most realms of artist work placements that can work alongside my studio work.