Short Bio
Artist Shannon Meadows is a technology industry escapee. Having pursued creative interests such as improvisational dance and creative writing (as well as computer science) as an undergrad, she took the path of pragmatism in a business profession. After a successful and lengthy career as an education technology sales and marketing executive, in 2022, she had the good fortune to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Painting at Savannah College of Art and Design, fully online.
Statement
My work contemplates the frontier between the safety of the observer and the active participants in the revolution. Oil painting is the language I use to examine power inequities and the compromises needed to prosper within the system. Broken lines, ragged edges, and hazy focus interplay with a palette balancing saturated hues and neutrals formulated from them. Subjects appear in shape-based and gestural forms. Inspiration for my work is found in the bold colors and shapes of the Modernist Fauves Bay Area Figurative movement.
Oils are my preferred medium, providing a tactile materiality and lushness of color. The surface is constructed with intentionality of layered colors and textures. Mark making from the exposed underpainting and traces of charcoal sketching create line and depth. Atmospheric shimmering emerges from strong and broken lines using washes and rags. This richness is a vehicle to message the struggle with an overarching optimism to persevere.
In evolving from a lengthy career as a technology executive, required to go along to get along within the business world, I find myself now wanting to speak out. Silence and compliance are no longer necessary, so I tear at the cultural packaging to expose what lies below.
Biography
Artist Shannon Meadows is a technology industry escapee. Having pursued creative interests such as improvisational dance and creative writing (as well as computer science) as an undergrad, she took the path of pragmatism in a business profession. After a successful and lengthy career as an education technology sales and marketing executive, in 2022, she had the good fortune to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Painting at Savannah College of Art and Design, fully online.
Shannon began painting in 2000, studying oil painting with Susan Manders, renowned Olympic artist, in Studio City in the Los Angeles area. After moving to Marin County in 2012, Shannon studied with Michael Azgour, MFA. Michael is an accomplished oil painter and founder of the Azgour Art Group who now lives in Krakow, Poland.
Her move to Marin County, with its breathtaking coastal landscape and diffuse light, has impacted Shannon’s work, evidenced through new subject matter and in a palette that has evolved to cool colors and neutral tones. Shannon’s work continues evolving, influenced by her MFA studies at SCAD, incorporating figurative elements as well as social messages relative to women in a patriarchal society and world events that are causing angst and unrest with populations globally. Stay tuned as her creativity travels the path to a new normal without the confines and demands of business and a corporate existence.
Resume / CV
Solo Exhibitions
2020
SOLO, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Curated by St Stephen’s Arts Commission, Belvedere, CA, Curated. Invitational.
2019
BREAKING THROUGH, Mill Valley Community Center, Curated by Mill Valley Arts Commission, Mill Valley, CA, Curated. Invitational.
2018
LEAVING LOS ANGELES, Private Home, Sherman Oaks, CA, Curated. Invitational.
2011
LEAVING LOS ANGELES, Private Home, Sherman Oaks, CA, Curated by Jill Tracy. Invitational.
2009
SOUL SUSTENANCE, Marco’s Restaurant, West Hollywood, CA, Curated by Tad Dowell, Invitational.
STUDIO SALON: ONE WOMAN, Art Experience Gallery, Studio City, CA, Curated by Susan Manders, Invitational.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022
MARIN SOCIETY OF ARTISTS, COLORS, San Rafael, CA. Curated, Invitational.
2021
MARIN SOCIETY OF ARTISTS, EXPRESSIONS 2021, Online, Curated, Invitational.
2018
MILL VALLEY FALL ARTS FESTIVAL, Mill Valley, CA. Curated, Invitational.
2017
MARIN OPEN STUDIOS, Mill Valley, CA. Curated, Invitational.
2009
HOLIDAY ART AND OPEN HOUSE, Lotus Post, Santa Monica, CA. Curated by Michael Perricone, Invitational.
2008
I CANDY, Art Experience Gallery, Studio City, CA. Curated by Alan Yasni, Invitational.
2007
THE INSPIRATION COLLECTIVE, Art Experience Gallery, Studio City, CA, Curated by Susan Manders, Invitational.
2006
POP THE ART, Art Experience Gallery, Studio City, CA, Curated by Susan Manders, Invitational.
Commissions
Marin Center for Independent Living, Angels by the Bay, Sponsored by a Private Donation, January 2015
Wagberry Compound, Sponsored by a Private Collector, Sonoma, CA, June 2006
Selected Collectors
Denise and Ed Miller, Kent Woodlands, CA
Heather Morrow, Alta Dena, CA
Deborah and George Gilbert, Long Beach, CA
Nora and Michael Perricone, Lotus Post, Pacific Palisades, CA
Dr. Elfreda Massie, Bowie, MD
Dr. Ellen Wagner and Anne Derryberry, Sonoma, CA
Laura Jane Agnew, Austin, Texas
Leslie and Bob Stonick, Long Beach, CA
Joan Emison, Cambridge, MA
