Shaunda Holloway Sings The Canvas Electric

Paint met rhythm Monday night at an opening reception in Westville for a new exhibition by a New Haven artist.

The reception marked the opening of ​“Shaunda Holloway: Abstract Rebel.” nico w. okoro of the bldg fund, which promotes artists of color, curated the exhibit at the Mitchell Branch library.

Besides mingling with the crowd and showing her artwork, Holloway recited some of her poetry. Click on the above video to hear a sample.

In a Q&A, she discussed how she sees music as a muse for her paintings.

“Music is very important to me. I feel like I was a DJ in a past life. Music is my coffee. I can be in a bad mood, I put in a good tune, I’m right back where I want to be,” she said.

Her father played piano, her uncles congas, she said. ​“Even though I’m not a musician, music is in my DNA. I feel you can see that in my work.”

Asked about how she knows when a painting is finished, she compared her process to the way musical artists cut albums. While ​“a Sean Paul” might crank out ​“one hit after another, others take their time to make sure everything is right.” She has joined the latter camp with her visual art: ​“I used to bang out pieces. A lot of it was very sophomoric. I was just so hungry to say I did this. After a while, when you want your work to speak a certain way, you have to be able to say, ​‘Don’t overwork this.’ Or you go back into it.”

“Shaunda Holloway: Abstract Rebel” is scheduled to run through Feb. 28