Creative Roots & Vision

Artist Shannon Meadows is a technology industry escapee based in Northern California. After a successful career as an EdTech sales and marketing executive, she now pursues her artistic passion full time. Shannon studied oil painting privately prior to attending Savannah College of Art and Design in 2022 as an MFA candidate.

Shannon’s initial love was oil painting, producing work with saturated hues and rich textures that evoke meaning beyond the subject matter. More recent work utilizes the versatility of mixed media with ink, acrylic, and collage. Shannon explores social themes of power dynamics through her figurative work. Landscapes, inspired by the beauty of Coastal California and the Sierra Nevada mountains, contemplate the human response to the vastness of nature. Her work has been shown in solo and group juried exhibitions throughout California and has won numerous awards.

Influences for her work are the bold colors found in the Fauves and the enigmatic work of the Bay Area Figurative artists of the mid-20th Century. She relates to the vision of contemporary painters and photographers, many of them women, who incorporate irreverence and social satire in their art.

A woman with blonde hair in a white shirt and beige pants standing in an art gallery with three colorful landscape paintings on the wall behind her.

Professional Highlights

  • BA, English, Creative Writing, Minor in Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin, TX

    \Attended Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, California

    Attended University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    MFA Candidate, Painting, Savannah College of Art and Design, Class of 2025

  • 2024 Artist in Residence Exhibition, Reichwage Winery, Sebastopol, CA, Invitational.

    2023 SOLO, First Federal Savings and Loan, Fairfax, CA. Invitational

    2020 SOLO, St. Stephens Episcopal Church, Belvedere, CA. Curated by St. Stephen’s Art Commission, Invitational.

    2019 BREAKING THROUGH, Mill Valley Community Center, Mill Valley, CA. Curated by Mill Valley Arts Commission, Invitational.

    2011 LEAVING LOS ANGELES, Private Home, Sherman Oaks, CA. Invitational.

    2009 SOUL SUSTENANCE, Marco’s Restaurant, West Hollywood, CA. Invitational.

    STUDIO SALON: ONE WOMAN, Art Experience Gallery, Studio City, CA. Curated by Susan Manders, Artist, Invitational.

  • 2024 MARIN SOCETY OF ARTISTS – WINTER BLUES, San Rafael, CA. Members show. Awards juried by Michael Friedland – Received Second Prize for Sentinels of Tomales Bay

    2023 AZGOUR ART GROUP, SUMMER VIRTUAL EXHIBITION, Virtual members show. Juried by members of Azgour Art Group – Received First Prize for Power Glitch

    2023 MARIN SOCIETY OF ARTISTS – CALIFORNIA DREAMING, San Rafael, CA. Juried by Julie Zener, Julie Zener Gallery - Received Honorable Mention for Convict, Invitational.

    2023 FIRE SAFE MARIN – EMBER STOMP, Ember Stomp Festival and Marin Civic Center Public Art, San Rafael, CA. Juried by Emabet Korn, Desta Gallery, Invitational.

    2023 MARIN SOCIETY OF ARTISTS – FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING, Members show. San Rafael, CA. Juried by Evri Kwong, Artist

A colorful abstract painting depicting people camping in a snowy mountain landscape with tents and layered, patterned mountains in the background.

“What is seen and called the picture is what remains—an evidence. Even as one travels in painting towards a state of ‘unfreedom’ where only certain things can happen, unaccountably the unknown and free must appear… In this sense, to paint is a possessing rather than a picturing.

-Phillip Guston, from Statement in Twelve Americans, 1956

Shannon supports local charities in her community by donating artworks for their auctions.

Philanthropy

A painting of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco at sunset, with a colorful sky and waves crashing against rocks in the foreground.
A painting of a coastal landscape featuring steep cliffs with rock formations, green hills in the background, and a sandy beach in the foreground with calm turquoise water.