“After graduating from the University of TX at Austin in 1987, I got married and left the US with my husband, Rick, to travel and work in Europe for a year. Back in Houston, in a high-tech town, educated with a BFA degree in painting and sculpture, I worked as an editor at a publishing company. Five years later, some changes in my health and my priorities led me back to creative work in earnest.
“We moved to North Carolina in 1992 where I began developing my artwork into a livelihood. The rural surrounds of Chatham County have proven to be fertile ground for personal and artistic growth. Twenty-three years here have given my husband and me the wonderful experiences of living in a small town, living in the woods, and making a host of good friends who keep life interesting and instructive.
“I paint in watercolor and ink on paper, also in acrylics with charcoal and graphite on canvas and wood panels. I rarely plan my paintings or set goals for subject matter. I do often work in a series, though, once a theme has appeared. I like to see what/who shows up in my work and outside the studio. I am dedicated to this wild place and its inhabitants. They are what show up most often in my work.
“I have lived in Chatham County for 22 years. I paint full-time and teach yoga classes a few times/week. I feel SO lucky that art-making is my day-job (and nights and weekends!). I consider it my WORK no matter what. Drawing is like breathing to me.
“This life we have is a gift. It is a wonder to me that it comes in so many shapes, sizes and forms. My drawing and painting have long been motivated by the need to respond to the beauty I see around me. The amazing grace of trees and plants, the fluidity of animals, the outrageous colors of the earth, all provoke me to paint and draw.
“I draw often. I paint with watercolors as often as I do with acrylics. For the two deer group paintings, I sketched directly on canvas like I would a sketchbook page. Otherwise my most frequent way to begin a piece is to start applying paint— colors, grays and white, ink— and wait for a form to arrive. Often this turns out to be something I have seen very recently in the wild world, maybe something I’d sketched before in one of my many sketchbooks.
“Lately, what shows up most often is this observation: We are all tangled up together in nature, each of us affecting the others we live with and alongside.”
Shannon has generously donated 2 original watercolors to The ArtsCenter’s Silent Auction, on display throughout the month of June in the Nicholson Gallery. To place a bid for these pieces, visit our box office or call us at (919) 929-2787. Bids starting at $35 per piece will be accepted until 5PM on June 28th.
