Shirley Crutchfield’s Gilded Second Act

Shirley Yang Crutchfield, Queens Triumvirate, 2025. 24K gold leaf, 22K moon gold, 12K white gold and oil on wood, 24 x 26 in. Courtesy of the artist

An engineer by training, Chicago-based artist Shirley Yang Crutchfield worked in tech at organizations such as Sony, Fox and Amazon before pivoting to the arts. “I’ve always wanted to be an artist, and I painted as long as I could as a child, but I stopped doing that because of pursuits in ‘accomplishments;’ I felt that I had to prove myself, and everything goes through that,” she told Observer. After five big tech experiences, Crutchfield founded her company, Muses, a platform that connects creators and entrepreneurs, enabling them to thrive together.

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“I was 8 months pregnant with my first human child in addition to my tech child,” she quipped. As the need for support and infrastructure became increasingly critical, Crutchfield sold her startup to a blockchain company in Silicon Valley. “I signed the deal on my delivery bed, so I always joke that I delivered both babies at the same time.”

Crutchfield decided to leave the tech world and become a professional artist after becoming a mother of two. “There was a sense of having an identity crisis,” she admitted. After being so career-driven and thriving on accomplishments for almost two decades, the sudden shock of becoming a stay-at-home mom posed an unexpected crisis—an experience shared by many women. Crutchfield quickly found the everyday life of being in pajamas, nursing and dropping off kids to be overly consuming: “I started questioning: After all of my education and all of my hard work, is this the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?” In her search for satisfaction and a re-exploration of identity, she discovered art as a therapeutic way to regain her sense of self and began painting in the early mornings and late evenings, when she could take a break from her parenting duties.

Her paintings have a common theme and motif: powerful women in gold. They turn impressive women—from the ones in her life such as friends and other people she respects to queens and mythological figures—into artworks that acknowledge the hard work women do in their lives. “I want my collectors and viewers to see my art as mirrors of themselves, so that they could be constant reminders of their brilliance and their true identity, no matter what stage in life they’re in. Even if you’re a stay-at-home mom in your pyjamas going crazy all day, you can still remember who you are inside.”

© Observer

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