Shannon’s career over the last 20 years has focused on the intersection of the internal body and our human condition—it’s innate disposition to change and impermanence. The underlying themes of my work question our basic human rights and injustices affecting the condition of our bodies.

Shannon's work is deeply rooted in drawing, alongside Super 8 films and video, with a particular focus on mixed media and experimental drawing. Through the mediums of drawing and gouache painting, she reimagines elements of the visceral body and the human condition. Her disembodied abstractions dissolve into landscapes of memory, nostalgia, and the blurred lines between truths and falsehoods—exploring themes of body, spirit, past lives, and the personal connections viewers bring to her work.

She continues to expand her collection of ephemeral works by balancing the beauty and fear of shifting landscapes, identities, and cultures. Creating immersive environments through images, Shannon subtly explores place through landscape, light, and gesture. Utilizing film, drawing, and painting as tools to investigate the past, present, and future, her work presents a poetic and complex interplay of images that invite reflection and meditation. By capturing vignettes ranging from the mundane to the beautiful and employing a collage-like style, she examines the fragmented nature of memory, shaped by temporality.

In addition to her artistic practice, Shannon is a dedicated art educator, partnering with institutions and community organizations such as the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Saint Paul College, Wet Paint Art, and the Grand Marais Art Colony, among others. She was a 2017 recipient of the MRAC Next Step Fund award, supported by the McKnight Foundation, and a 2017 James P. Shannon Leadership Institute Fellow. Shannon is also an alumna and the inaugural Board Chair of artEquity, an organization dedicated to equity and inclusion training within the arts and culture field.

She is the founder of and management expert at the Office of Cultural Work (OCW) where she works alongside visionary artists to help both established and emerging creators navigate oppressive systems, deepen the meaning and connection in their work, and bring their visions to life.

As a leader in nonprofit management and philanthropy, working at the intersection of art and social change with individual artists, organizations, and creative entrepreneurs, Shannon has held leadership positions at Penumbra Theatre, Walker Art Center, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Blue Man Group, and Lambent Foundation.

Visit Office of Cultural Work to learn more about her work in the world!