If you’ve walked around Lancaster City, you’ve seen Shauna L. Yorty’s artwork. Turn a corner, and you’ll find one of their vibrant murals blooming like a flower in the urban landscape—like her colorful mural of Jude the Cow, created for the Lancaster Farm Sanctuary on the side of the Wacker on Walnut (WOW) building. Shauna’s murals tell someone else’s story—but this month, at the Ware Center for the Arts in Lancaster, PA, Shauna is getting up close and personal with an exhibit that is all about them.
We talked to Shauna L. Yorty about their upcoming exhibit Overshare: I Did This for Me, on display at the Regitz Gallery from November 6 to 24.
What inspired you to create the artwork in this exhibit?
“After my divorce 3 years ago, I was left with no job, no money, no home, and no idea how to keep my kids and I going,” says Shauna. “Through a series of fortunate encounters, I was led to a wise one (my 8-year-old Self) who told me to do what I loved and invite others to do it with me, and that this path would lead me to each next place I needed to be.”
Shauna started creating regular meetups where people could gather together in community to create art. “I began monthly offerings in the service of love—inviting folks to process with me, to sit at my table and see what comes up.”
For Shauna, art has not just been therapeutic—it’s been the healing itself.
“This art is how I’ve survived the past three years,” Shauna says. “It’s messy and made out of trash and full of sweaty tears and my worst fears and my brightest hopes and dreams. It’s ugly and shameful and cheap and scrappy. It’s everything I can’t hold anymore, and all that I dream will be. It’s the art that I’ve made to make it through, and I’m ready to share it with you.”
How is this exhibit different from your mural art?
“I make murals for all of you—for the storytellers, for the subjects, and for the viewers,” says Shauna. “It’s not about me. Not a single step.”
“I’m mindful that someone else’s story is a precious thing to hold and a sacred responsibility,” they say. “I take deep care each step of the way to ensure I’m using the appropriate materials and the best teammates. I spend countless hours crafting the design and planning the painting to my highest standards. My goal with murals is to provide a portal to another world.”
This exhibit, on the other hand, gives a glimpse into the art that Shauna uses as their healing process.
“When I make this work, it’s about me. It’s for me,” Shauna says. “I make it so that I can process what’s inside of me and connect to my own story, so that I can call in what’s meant to be here and release what’s ready to leave.”
Instead of the painstaking, deliberative process they go through when planning a mural, the artwork in this exhibit is much more personal and immediate.
“There is nothing precious in the way I craft the pieces or choose the materials—I’ll use whatever I’ve got on hand or is closest to me when I need to get something out,” says Shauna. “The sacredness of this work is that it is what’s inside of me. It’s the me in it that is precious.”
What do you hope people take away from this exhibit?
“Maybe if we all show each other what it takes and what we make to make it through, we’ll feel less alone in our own messy processes,” says Shauna. “That’s my hope. See me, see you.”
About the Exhibit
Overshare: I Did This for Me by Shauna L. Yorty opens on November 6 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Ware Center for the Arts, with an artist talk at 6 p.m. Come witness Shauna’s story, and maybe you’ll walk away understanding just a little more about your own.