ABout
LIFE LONG LEARNING...
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Shirley thinks that learning throughout her lifetime has vastly contributed to her making art. Workshops and travel, coupled with as much reading as possible and an active curiosity, have been major keys to her art making.
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ARTS WORKSHOPS...
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Wyrick is enthusiastic about value of attending Arts Workshops. She found each workshop has brought her closer to her inner self. She usually chose workshop topics that intrigued her outside of the field of sculpture because they allowed her to expand and enrich her art in many media.
Workshops offer serious concentration without outside interruptions and each has fostered long-lasting friendships and exposure to others’ works and ways of seeing the world. She was surprised recently to find that many artists have never participated in Arts Workshops and she would like to encourage them to look for these opportunities.
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ARTS WORKSHOPS ATTENDED...
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Pastel Workshop Summer 1984
Split Rock Arts Program, Duluth, Minnesota
Joyce Lyon, Instructor
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Pastel Workshop July – August 4, 1990
Split Rock Arts Program, Duluth, Minnesota
Visual Voice: Painting Workshop
Sally Brown, Instructor
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A Split Rock Arts Program Cover
Split Rock Arts Program August 5 – 11, 1990
Image & Memory: Visual Journals Workshop, Duluth, Minnesota
Judith Roode, Instructor
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Wyrick was struck by reading of a Far Eastern belief in deifying a bear after killing and preserving it on a stake. They expected by “feeding it” that the bear would be their connection to the spirit world and good fortune during the year ahead. The bear became their Shaman.
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Mythic Bear in charcoals-pastels & later in bronze
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Her first drawings in the series (all in 1990) were done while thinking of the bear and empathizing with it as it is overtaken by Death:
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Shaman Bear clawing tree trunk, Shaman Bear downed by Thrown Boot, Shaman Bear Crushed, Shaman Bear w bowl of blueberries,
Shaman Bear closeup showing stake, Bird of Prey,
Shaman Bear with Bird of Death, Shaman Bear walking with Staff,
No, Shaman Bear Raging, Shaman Bear Among the Symbols,
Mythic Bear bronze-ash
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The last three Shaman Bear drawings were done after Wyrick learned of her young friend’s (director of the UI Museum of Art) impending death from a brain tumor.
NO! is filled with Wyrick’s emotion and longing as she imagines her being sheltered from death by the Shaman Bear:
NO! charcoal-BFK Rives
The Shaman Bear is then shown, on behalf of Mary:
RAGING! charcoal-BFK Rives
In the final drawing, the Shaman Bear takes its place:
AMONG THE SYMBOLS charcoal-BFK Rives
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Iowa Summer Writing Festival Week of June 24, 1993
Duluth, Minnesota
Michael Dennis Brown, Instructor
Split Rock Program
Forestry, Connecticut
Eric Leach, Instructor
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A Retreat at the Cloquet August 8 – 14, 1993
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Eric Leach, Instructor
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Things to Do At Poetry Workshop
Iowa Summer Writing Festival November 13 – 14, 1993
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Ken McCullogh, Instructor
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Split Rock Program July 12– 18, 1998
The Wonderful World of Monorints, Duluth, Minnesota
Judy Stone Nunnely, Instructor
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A Retreat at the Cloquet January 15, 2005
Pastel Workshop
Marcia Wegman Studio, Iowa City, Iowa
Marcia Wegman, Instructor
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T’ai Chi Workshops...
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Yang Style T’ai Chi Workshops, as well as weekly group meetings and intense study for many years, were extremely important to Wyrick. She studied Professor Cheng Man Ch’ing’a style, explored several other forms via videotape and practiced mindfulness and meditation. T’ai Chi has been essential to her and her art.
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T’ai Chi Workshops attended...
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Yang Style T’ai Chi and Qigong Retreat February 1 – 4, 2001
Sinsinawa Mound Center, Madison, Wisconsin
Tricia Yu, Instructor
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Bataan Faigo T’ai Chi Workshop November 9 – 11, 2001
Clary Illian’s Hall, Ely, Iowa
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Yang Style T’ai Chi and Qigong Retreat January 31 – February 3, 2002
Sinsinawa Mound Center, Madison, Wisconsin
Tricia Yu, Instructor
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2002 T’ai Chi Retreat October 24 – 27, 2002
Center States T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Kansas City, Missouri
Conception Abbey, Conception, Missouri
Kim Kanzelberger, Instructor
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Fingerlakes T’ai Chi Camp #2 August 10 – 15, 2003
Kirkwood Community College
Iowa City Campus, Iowa City, Iowa
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Yang Style T’ai Chi and Qigong Retreat January 31 – February 3, 2002
Keuka College, Keuka Park, New York, New York
Maggie Newman, Instructor
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Bataan Faigo T’ai Chi Workshop November 14 – 16, 2003
Kirkwood Community College
Iowa City Campus, Iowa City, Iowa
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Tricia Yu T’aiji Workshop October 22 – 24, 2004
Arts a la Carte, 20 E. Market Street, Iowa City, Iowa
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T’ai Chi Ch’uan April 8 – 10 & May 6 – 8, 2005
Dancing River T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Minneapolis, Minnesota
The Children’s Center for Physical Therapy & Arts a la Carte
20 E. Market Street, Iowa City, Iowa
Barbara Davis, Instructor
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Greet the Wind... T’ai Chi & T’ai Chi Sword Workshop October 28 – 30, 2005
Clary Illian’s Hall, Ely, Iowa
Ken Van Sickle, Instructor
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2002 T’ai Chi Retreat October 24 – 27, 2002
Center States T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Kansas City, Missouri
Conception Abbey, Conception, Missouri
Kim Kanzelberger, Instructor
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T’ai Chi Workshop February 3 – 5, 2006
Center States T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Kansas City
Yellow House, Hoover Foundation, West Branch, Iowa
Kim Kanzelberger, Instructor
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T’ai Chi Workshop October 20 – 22, 2006
Center States T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Kansas City, Missouri
Yellow House, Hoover Foundation, West Branch, Iowa
Kim Kanzelberger, Instructor
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T’ai Chi Workshop July 10 –13, 2008
Weyerhuser Hall, Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota
Weiming Yuan, Instructor
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Yang Style T’ai Chi weekly January to March 5, 2020
The Center, Iowa City, Iowa
George Nelson, Instructor
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T’ai Chi Review December 12 – 13, 2020
Center States T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Kansas City, Missouri
Online - ZOOM
Kim Kanzelberger, Instructor
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T’ai Chi Review June 19 – 20, 2021
Center States T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Kansas City, Missouri
Online - ZOOM
Kim Kanzelberger, Instructor