I recently caught up with artist to hear more about her character-driven narrative paintings and what she’s been up to as of late.

***Faith Holding Hope, acrylic painting by Shawna Gilmore***

Could you share a bit about your background & your training?

I received an excellent art education in high school, but continued my studies at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, majoring in Studio Art with an emphasis on Drawing and Printmaking. Art making has always been something I'm drawn to partly because it came easier for me than other things, but it also felt like tapping into my place in the world. In high school and college, I knew I had to learn as much as I could about art, but I really had no direction for what that could look like as a profession. After receiving my BFA, I really didn't create for 5 or so years. I returned to making as a way to cope with the pressures of being a new parent of twins. I would scurry down to a refurbished coal room in our basement after the babies went to sleep and play with paint. Every moment I could steal away to doodle or paint was fueling a renewed passion in me. After the kids were in school, I started to pour myself into painting full time. We've settled in Duluth, MN and I continue to work from my home studio full time.

What is your preferred medium?

I paint mostly in acrylics, but my first love is drawing with graphite. Paint communicates my ideas better than pencil, so I'll stick with it, but I use pencil any chance I get to do studies or lay out a piece. I love the fast drying qualities of acrylic paint. It's perfect for an impatient and accident-prone person like me, because I can rework areas where I've made mistakes.

What ideas do you explore in your work?

I have quite a few ideas I'm exploring currently. I created a fictional neighborhood called Mulberry Street, where every home represents a different character. I love this idea, because it gives me the freedom to explore many ideas simultaneously. Whereas before, I'd be stuck on one idea for a long time to create a series, with Mulberry Street I can escape to the jungle in one painting and fantasize about living with a space hole in my living room in the next painting. On my easel right now is a large painting of an expansion of my character, Colette, Collector Of Beautiful Things, who is taking her preservation to the next level by transporting her collection of beautiful things down river in a canoe. All of my current work explores outside/inside elements and chameleonic behavior where the clothes of the characters are disappearing into the background landscape or pattern. The chameleonic theme is something I've been interested in for a long time. I find both blending into and connecting to a place very deep wells of curiosity. Being present but also being part of something greater . . . these are concepts that keep coming up in my work over and over.

What is your typical process?

Usually I have a narrative that prompts research to meet the elements, i.e. vintage characters, landscapes, patterns, animals. After I've gathered the images, I begin working up a sketch collage in PhotoShop on my iPad. This process can take anywhere from one day to weeks as I work out the kinks of the final design. Once I've settled on the image, I prep the wood panels and set about layering in the background. Working from the images, I use lots of tracing paper to sketch out the characters and pattern. When I get them to where I like them, I set them onto the panel, moving them about until they feel right and settled. After I transfer that sketch, I fill in the characters. This finishing detail work often takes the longest and is the most stressful. Often I will start a new piece during this stage just to keep my head from spinning from the detail work. Depending on their size, I usually have 2-3 paintings going at a time. By having several pieces going at a time, I can give myself options of what I feel I have the energy to work on at any given moment, plus if I've hit a rough patch on one painting, I simply turn to another piece in progress to provide a change of scenery.

Can you talk a bit about the evolution of your practice and style?

Before I began exploring narrative work, I was all over the place trying to find the visual vehicle for what I wanted to say, there are even a few alien paintings in there and a whole series I did using hands! But even in college, I painted these small character narrative paintings about my Grandma who was suffering from Alzhiemers at the time. Those paintings way back then were just a thread of my truth that was starting to peek in the door. I wasn't ready to paint that way again until I had lived a little longer, been through experiences in life and learned more visual skills to create the work. I think we all have ideas and a style we're not ready for just yet and if we can keep pressing into that making place, trying new things, living and learning...eventually we will be ready to create what we were meant to make. I wasn't ready to pursue art as a career back in college. It took me coming to a place in my life where I needed to create to survive emotionally and spiritually. Themes of a character, family, home, all with a narrative and vintage feel...those things were always there waiting for me to pull the threads and jump down the rabbit hole. Once my kids came and we were reading all the time with them, it awakened something in me. Like an itch I didn't realize I had. I was suddenly filled with stories. I adore vintage photography so I pulled that thread and wondered what if I put these characters in my own world. The sky opened and it hasn't closed. Vintage Hollywood Glamour photos are still something I love to reference in my patterned portraits. Vintage photographs led to a fascination with vintage wallpaper, fabrics and landscapes. I continue to pull the threads of interest in my life, exploring chameleonic behavior in my work is the most recent direction I've been taking.

***Colette Collector of Beautiful Things, acrylic painting by Shawna Gilmore***

Which artists do you look to for inspiration?

I really love Rene Magritte, Frida Khalo, Henry Darger, Gustav Klimt, Chuck Close...so many more!

Which artists do you enjoy at the moment?

There are so many, but here are a few: Toni Hammel, Vanessa Stockard, Shaun Downy, Katie Daisy, Mando Marie, Amanda Michelle Smith, CJ Hendry, Brad Kunkle, Daisy Patton, Natalie Featherston, Sue Williams A'Court, Pippa Young, Scott Listfield, Rebecca Rebouche, Chambers, Austelle, Esther Pearl Watson, Kelly Grace, Jennifer Davis, Drew Leshko, Alice Wellinger, Jeremy Miranda, Carson Ellis, Amanda Bennett.

What is your studio like?

I work in the front porch studio of my home, just off the living room. It has tons of windows with great light and is a bit small, but I love being close to home as it's a huge source of inspiration for me. I feel very blessed.

What is the most memorable thing someone has said about your work?

That's a great question! I had a truly delightful lady say almost over the top how much she absolutely adores my work, and in the same sentence, maybe even the same breath, she said of course she'd never hang it in her home, but she thinks it's just amazing...I should've been offended, but instead it made me laugh all the way home!

What are you working on now? What’s on your horizon?

I have a lot of paintings I'm planning to add to my Mulberry Street neighborhood and a few patterned Chameleon portraits I'm working on, but COVID has retristricted a lot of the exhibition planning I'd normally be doing right now. But, with more ideas than I have the energy to paint, I will definitely be busy!

You can follow Shawna on Instagram at @Shawna_Gilmore

Shawna Gilmore