Hardship and creativity often go hand-in-hand. Many artists and musicians share their adversities through dark paintings or sad songs. But for Kirsten Shannon, who was forced to take a year off from painting while she battled cancer, a new exhibit at Diver Studio reflects the joy of living rather than the pain.
“I think now I know what true pain is,” Shannon said. “I went through that. I really wanted to get up to my studio and create and almost like birth something; create something new and beautiful out of what I had been through.”
Shannon underwent surgeries to deal with breast cancer. And while those surgeries were successful against the disease, they made it difficult to paint.
“My work's really physical,” Shannon said. “So it's almost like you're getting a workout while you're painting. A lot of canvases are really big, and I'm hefting, moving them around and raising my arms and making big gestures.”
But Shannon's expressive and bright paintings were somehow reinforced by her experience.
“Like the colors and things have always been really happy,” Shannon said. “I'm a very optimistic person, but I think I learned a lot in that year that I had to take off, just what really matters. I couldn't have done it by myself, you know. I learned who I can depend on, and [that] I can't depend on my body.“
Shannon had to look outside herself during that year, and it translated to the new work.
“There's something bigger than that,” Shannon said. “I think that there's just a hopefulness because there's pain, but there's also so much good that comes out of that, out of the dark. There's the new life, and so I think that you can see that in my work too.”
New modes of creating followed Shannon to some surprising places. She usually works on a large scale, but has a body of work which includes smaller pieces.
“This grid over on the wall is called ‘Obsessed with Exploring,’” Shannon said. “With those, I tried to cut out forms out of parchment and I painted an underlayer with those more steady forms. And so I feel like that's kind of a new direction. And I think they were successful.”
Working these smaller paintings in the kitchen also brought Shannon’s kids into the mix.
“The kitchen's kind of the center of our house,” Shannon said, “and so they are in and out. My son does ceramics; he's got an eye. He was actually telling me that he thinks that the shows that I've had before, my work from my last show, the marks were more frantic, and he thinks that in this body of work the marks are more intentional and the pieces seem more grounded.”
Hardship is often represented in muted tones … like Picasso’s “blue period.” But with her new exhibit — “As It Was … And Is” — Shannon hopes to inspire triumph and delight.
“I think more than anything,” Shannon said, “it shows the joy that I found through the hard. I think it's a really hopeful show. There's a lot of joy in each piece, and I think you can see that.”
