Shay Chenette

An international artist and entrepreneur who paints stories into being.

Shay Chenette is a Tulsa, Oklahoma native and Oral Roberts University alumna, now based in Texas. A multidisciplinary visual artist, she works across fine art, mural art, live performance painting and body art, with a practice rooted in texture, form and human connection.

She specialises in painting on wood panels and canvas, letting the natural grain tell a story alongside her brushstrokes. Much of the work centres on figures as symbols of strength, vulnerability and transformation, and her subjects are drawn from travels, history, music and the movers and shakers of her community. For Shay, painting is not only about what is seen, but about what is felt, remembered and shared.

Her work seeks to connect the diaspora with each other and more deeply with themselves. She founded Girls & Curls in 2015 to bring ethnic imagery to children and women, and later launched Ubuntu Graphix, a design and branding studio built in partnership with artists across the global diaspora. She is a member of The Panel Collective and Respect the Artist.

Recent exhibitions include the solo show “A Moment” at MCJR in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, “Silent Screams” at the Black Girl Magic Museum in Arlington, Texas, and the group exhibition “Art of Consent” at 500X Gallery in Dallas. Her story has been featured in Black Minds Magazine, CanvasRebel and Voyage Dallas.