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About the Artist
Exploring the Iowa countryside as he grew up, Shawn established his
connection with nature and generated a curiosity to see more. He
now feeds this curiosity by exploring the beaches and mountains
around his Northern California home. The local landscape and wildlife
provide an abundance of inspiration and reference material for his art.
Influences on Shawn's approach to creating art are wide ranging.
He sees an opportunity for growth through experience and the wider
the experience, the greater the growth. He has taken workshops with
Robert Bateman and draws from the work of others like Bob Kuhn, Andrew
Wyeth, Ray Harris-Ching, and Georgia O'Keefe. Shawn then takes what
he has learned from these great artists and incorporates it into his
own approach, which is continually evolving. "Do not seek to follow
in the footsteps of ancestors, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho,
17th century Japanese poet.
Inspiration for Shawn's artwork often comes from personal experience.
Many ideas for his paintings are generated during hiking and camping
trips into the wilderness he loves, because it's deep in the wilderness
where you find nature at its best. It is also where you can escape
the everyday distractions of modern life. Combining his experience
and observations in nature with personal interpretation and creative
expression, the paintings share a glimpse of Shawn's unique vision of
the world around us. In the end, however, the viewer will have their
own experience with the imagery and their own response to it. Hopefully
it will resonate with them in some way.
Shawn's art has received national recognition in Wildlife Art Magazine,
as well as a February 2007 feature article in American Artist Magazine.
He has been named a finalist in the Artist's Magazine's Annual Art
Competition two years running, and his art has been exhibited in the
Arts for the Parks Top 100 and the Bennington Center for the Arts'
Art of the Animal Kingdom. Shawn is a Signature Member of the Society
of Animal Artists.
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