Shannon is a multimedia artist based in Washington State whose practice spans painting, sculpture, illustrative, and photography. Rooted in Irish history and culture, her work draws inspiration from historical and family stories, traditional practices, and the intersection of community and heritage.
Alongside her studio practice, Shannon has studied art history, which informs her research and deepens her creative work. Through both making and research, she continues to explore the connections between material practice, cultural memory, and heritage.
BA, Studio Art, Art History minor, Hope College, Holland, MI
2026
I am an Irish American artist. My history is not always told in its entirety; it returns in fragmented, half-told stories, in silences, and in what my grandmother and family carried but did not always name. As the granddaughter of an Irish immigrant, I grew up hearing stories about life in Ireland around the War of Independence, World War II, and emigration. After my grandmother’s passing, I lost the ability to ask questions or hear those stories retold. I now search through family lore, forgotten records, and a country whose history was nearly erased and rewritten by force. I investigate because I have to, because history does not survive without witnesses.
With a strong interest in art history and conservation, I combine research and creation through visual storytelling, merging Irish history and culture with my family history. I believe that if you do not listen to and learn your family history, it will die with you. Like Ireland’s history, carried through families, I seek out lesser-known or nearly forgotten stories, bringing them to light while acknowledging what was almost lost.
This work began as a way to process my grandmother’s passing, but it has grown into a process of discovery. Rather than illustrating these stories, I pursue a layered visual language where symbols build, narratives are abstracted, and resistance is embodied through repetition. My process reflects how Ireland’s history has been bent, blurred, and reshaped, yet still carried through memory and quiet acts of defiance.
In painting, I build images through thin layers, creating depth by combining color, history, and family. Forms shift between detail and abstraction, with visible marks and revisions revealing the process. These layers emphasize that history is not fixed, but complex and evolving. The work holds fragments while leaving something obscured, echoing absence and unanswered questions.
I stitch my family’s story into the broader history of Ireland so that it will endure. This practice becomes a form of resistance and reclamation. I use my hands to create for my history, to honor my roots, and to refuse to forget.