Featured Artist Shannon Amidon

Artist Shannon Amidon incorporates natural and upcycled materials to produce artwork with a focus on botanicals, insects, trees and birds. Visit her website to learn more.

 

 

I am fascinated by the wonder, mystery, and sciences of natural history and life cycles.

 

 

I grew up on a small ranch in the foothills of San Jose, California, and my formative years were spent interacting with and escaping into nature. This childhood gave me a unique sensitivity and connection to the natural world. I try to capture that timeless experience and pensive feeling in my artwork.

 

 

I primarily work in encaustic (molten beeswax with resin and pigment) and I often combine that with a variety of ephemeral materials. I use old letters, books, book pages, maps; anything well-worn with a sense of history.

 

 

The encaustic process allows me to build many transparent, luminous layers and textures into my work revealing hidden secrets and moments. My imagery includes a variety of natural history elements including insects, botanicals, trees and birds as well as ancient symbolism and geometry.

 

 

The past few years I have been working in a limited color pallet of white, black, brown and gold.

 

 

For me white represents clarity, spirituality and new beginnings.

 

 

Gold embodies tradition and strength; the warmth of it balances the coldness sometimes associated with white.

 

 

Black and brown are bold, grounding and earthy colors. They are stability.

 

 

Being part of and giving back to my creative community is important to me. In addition to artmaking I teach a variety of workshops, mentor young artists and run a local artist resource website.

 

 

The life of an artist can be isolating, so sharing and connecting with my community is a vital part of my art practice. The connection and interaction with others often fuels me and my creative work.

 

 

I recently completed a series of fifty mixed media encaustic paintings in fifty days for the 8th Annual 50|50 Show at Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica, California. It was a wonderfully crazy challenge. It pushed me creatively and mentally and there were days when I loved it and days that I hated it. Fortunately, in addition to all of the process and creativity benefits, I stayed motivated by the incentive of an exhibition of all of the pieces together.

 

Artist Shannon Amidon invites you to follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.