I have been working as an artist in the Adirondacks for the past 26 years, and now I share my studio time between Upper Jay and Fayetteville, NY.
Living in the Adirondacks has been such a blessing. More oxygen, cleaner water, beautiful vistas..hearing an owl for the first time.. it has all affected my work as an artist. I’m a mixed media artist, painter, carver & jewelry maker and it all blends together for me in a great way with one technique encouraging the other. I usally work in one medium for a few months then switch to another. This keeps my creativity going and I find that I get ideas from each process that can carry over to another.
The materials that I utilize the most are birch bark, oil on canvas, birch wood panels, spalted birch and bronze and sterling. In regards to the birchbark-no bark is ever taken from live trees-that permanently damages the tree for life. Bark is collected only from the forest floor. For my carvings I use either spalted yellow birch or cedar. The wood collection that I have on hand is from trees that had to be taken down for some reason or another. Some of it is from storm blowdown.
The Wood used in the jewelry pieces is usually white or yellow spalted birch. Spalted wood is from trees that have fallen on the forest floor. The natural break down process in the wood creates beautiful patterns and colors. The pieces I use in my jewelry collection are made from wood that has been spalting for about 3-4 years. The metals in the jewelry are either bronze or sterling silver. I use precious metal clays (pmc) for the jewelry. This allows me to work in a sculpture type format. The pieces are formed, carved and sanded then fired in a kiln at very high temps. The end product is pure metal.
Shawn's phone contact # 518-637-5015
