Shannon Amidon was born and raised in San Jose, CA. She is a mixed media artist using alternative process photography, encaustic and paper ephemera as her main mediums. Her subjects often involve objects the artist has found in nature or collected in her travels such as: seed pods, insects, botanicals, fossils, feathers, bones, and vintage paper ephemera. Using these items and mediums, Amidon creates unique pieces that explore the beautiful, repulsive, and mysterious sides of natural ... view more »
What do you do now? Has your art evolved or changed?
The fellowship was validation that I was on the right path. It gave me confidence and meant all my hard work was paying off. It allowed me to attend an artist residency in Iceland. There I was able to really dive into my work, create and reflect. Without the fellowship I would not have been able to take advantage of that opportunity.
What is one piece of advice you would give to an emerging artist?
My artwork has moved to be more mixed media and sculptural. In the past my artwork was mostly photo-based. Now it involves encaustic, ephemera, and found objects. I recently became a new mother and that has really changed the way and reasons I create. See albums of my work at: http://www.shannonamidon.com/book-art-collection.html
Briefly, how would you describe the state of the arts locally, as well as national and beyond?
Be professional and do not flake or talk negatively about others, the art world is smaller than you think. Work, work, work and work some more. Being an artist is hard work and you get out of it what you put in. Be bold, true to yourself and believe that the world is a beautiful place and you deserve to be happy and successful.
