Today we’d like to introduce you to Shilin Hora.
Shilin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Under tree canopy, tiny fingers are pealing back wet moss. My 8-year old’s self gently places it atop a 1 inch layer of soil, carefully landscaping a miniature garden inside a Ball canning jar. Algae growth on stems are poked in moss, end up, creating trees and bunches of lichen to resemble tiny world shrubs. Turned up acorn cupules are holding water for ponds and puddles. Upright maple branches bundled with white thread for fence while apple seeds and small grey stones mark pathways for a lady bird’s landscape.
Elementary and middle school were brimming with self-guided outdoor wanderings through peach groves, grape vineyards, ravines, deciduous forests and sand dunes. Loose leaf branch sculptures, sand drawings, and seed sculptures emerged from these years. Undergraduate fine art studies took me inside to the sculpture and printmaking studio where I developed my craft of collecting and recording nature. I learned to observe with intention and perfect my seeing of nature through extensive natural-bits collections and etching plant and seed illustrations. Here I discovered the voice of the seed. Here is where I learned the significance of the seed. Now, 30 years later, I create Seed Museums. The Seed Museums artistically cradle and exhibit my elaborate collections emphasizing the exquisite beauty and significance of the seed. They are inspired by my self-guided wanderings and the 19th century Wardian cases that exploring botanists used to import plants. The wall hanging Museums are an exquisite blend between natural history specimen collection and fine art museum display, meant to inspire the Explorer in all of us, bring us home and back to our love for nature.
Has it been a smooth road?
The road to becoming the Seed Museum artist and growing into my genius work has been a winnowing process filled with fast and hard obstacle currents. For the last 20 years I have allowed personal criticism, lack of support, overwhelming facts about our deteriorating environment, security of a day job, parenting and dept to be excuses that Roundup and kill my dream. But nature heals and hope comes to those who take walks outdoors. I found the missing piece… I found a truth that says “I lack in nothing”. I decided to believe I have all that I need to be who I am and to let myself do what I want to do. I decided to be a thought leader in nature art and add value to the natural world right now.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Shilin Hora’s Artwork is a small business that cares about the environment and its direction. We add value to the world by leading folks back to an appreciation and reverence for nature through beautiful artworks. This is what sets us apart from others. Our dedication to craft, beauty and nature-reverence is what makes us most proud.
We are known for our Seed Museums which are rare, one-of-a-kind seed collections. The Museums showcase the need for the seed as objects and emphasize the historical, scientific, artistic, and cultural importance of the seed. The Seed Museums are a unique blend between natural history specimen collection and fine art museum display. Each Seed Museum tells a wild story, a story of a young girl who fell asleep in the woods and awoke to find a plethora of treasures sprinkled around her feet. The girl quickly turns to bent knee to see, observe, poke, prod, harvest, and record the treasures.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Chicago, our city, is a great place for a business like mine. There are entrepreneurial creatives teaming around the city and I believe there are plenty of patrons willing to purchase. The element that may be improved in our city is an “artist to client system”. A system where clients may find artists that are creating artwork within their price range and taste. The same way artists may reach out to clients who have shown interest in content with similar range and taste.
Pricing:
- The Seed Museums average around $500 a square foot.
- Why are the Seed Museum pieces so expensive? Because nature is expensive. We all have a price we must pay for the presence of nature. Mine is time. Time to see, observe, poke, prod, harvest, record, reflect, organize and give.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ShilinHora.com
- Phone: 312-772-0800
- Email: shi@shilinhora.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shilinhora/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shilin.hora
Image Credit:
Shilin Hora
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