Shalena White’s passion for art in all forms can be traced back to early childhood, where she discovered an innate interest in artistic expression and knew that she would be an artist. With a primary focus on expanding her education as a young adult, she nurtured and mastered her creative gifts. 

Earning her BFA gave her the opportunity to explore a plethora of artistic media: from ceramics; to printmaking; to painting and drawing; to fibers and sculpture; to art education, and ultimately metalsmithing and jewelry. This transition to metals came about from a desire to be able to wear her artwork. Metals proved to be a most challenging and thus rewarding medium and allowed her to be a walking gallery for her art. In between degrees, Shalena focused on establishing her art business, having an active presence with her artwork in galleries and art shows across Texas and in the Austin fashion scene. 

The pursuit of an MFA shifted her focus, to create art that was accessible to a larger audience. This new body of work was rooted in her metals and jewelry background, while incorporating a broader media investigation with alternative materials like seeds, earth, and found rocks. This artwork explored the confluence of jewelry and sculpture and extended the concept of adornment beyond the realm of the body, to adorned architecture, large-scale stone setting, and installations composed of wearable works.

As the only metalsmith in the UT MFA program, she advocated for her own education. With support from scholarships, Shalena traveled to several workshops around the states, keeping her finger on the pulse of the metals field, surrounding herself with other metalsmiths, and expanding her knowledge within the metals and jewelry field.

After acquiring her MFA, she began actively teaching at private and university levels while continuing to build her art business. Then, rather unexpectedly, just a few months after graduating, Shalena was blindsided with a cancer diagnosis. She has endured a few near death experiences since then but continues to fight as a tenacious warrior and lover of life. She is surviving and thriving, and ready to take her career to the next level. 

She intends to focus her efforts on growing her art business and continuing as a metals professor. With a new lease on life, Shalena has spent significant time working on art installations and creating a new body of work. As a trailblazer in the metals field, she specializes in creative stone setting and combining traditional metalsmithing techniques with found, organic materials.

She has worked on building her art business since 2006. As a passionate entrepreneur, she has gained experience taking on every role in her business, Shalena White Studios: jewelry design, fabrication, painting, art installation, photography, marketing, sales, order fulfillment, website design and customer service. While this is rewarding, she feels most aligned with her life purpose when working alongside others; both in the teaching sphere and in the materialization of her creative concepts in her community- based art installations. 

Driven by a mission to expand the minds of her students and help them to succeed, Shalena inspires them to forget everything they know about jewelry and push the envelope. A gifted teacher in the metals studio, she facilitates the creative expression of her students to create sculptural adornments that tell a narrative and challenge conventional perceptions of wearability while inspiring them to have high standards for excellent craftsmanship.

Outside of the studio, Shalena enjoys other creative pursuits like kintsugi, sewing, upcycling, and rockhounding. In addition, she loves meditation, comedy, fashion and rollerskating.

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Shalena White is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator who uses metalsmithing techniques incorporated with found, organic materials to create sculptural forms as adornments and architectural installations. In 2014, she graduated Magna Cum Laude with her MFA in Metals from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2009, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA specializing in Metals/Jewelry from Texas State University.

In 2014, she was awarded People’s Choice by popular public vote for Austin City Hall's yearly competition at People's Gallery. Mountain Laurel Mandala II is now included in the city of Austin's permanent art collection. It is currently on display in the mayor's hallway at Austin City Hall. She was also awarded with the Austin Chronicle's 2011 Best of Austin Critic’s Pick Award for Best Stunning Adornments.

Recent exhibitions include Materials Hard & Soft, Denton, Texas, 2022; Shalena White, solo exhibition, Texas State University, 2019; Repurposed at ICOSA, 2019; Craft Texas 2014, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft; Pool, MFA thesis exhibition, UT Austin Visual Arts Center; 10th Anniversary 2014 People’s Gallery Exhibition, Austin City Hall; Echoes of Form, three-person exhibition, UT Austin Visual Arts Center; Craft Texas 2012, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

Shalena lives in Austin, Texas where she is pursuing multiple artistic interests including community-based, public art projects, fine jewelry collections, and teaching.