Shelly Stokes is a textile artist based in Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico. Her belief that all people are inherently creative beings – and that creative self-expression is a form of self-compassion –  informs her work as an artist and a teacher.

The designs and colors of her work are influenced by the bold colors and the exuberant pottery of her adopted home in central Mexico. Shelly finds inspiration in shapes and motifs from Talavera pottery, modifies them for her working methods, and then turns the designs into circular, rotating patterns. She thinks of them as flowers in her Talavera Garden.