Shawn Hall is an artist who has been living and working in New Orleans since 1997. Her recent work imagines the natural world in beautiful and sometimes satirical ways. Her sources are derived from books on nature and the body, observation, and the subconscious. The work tends to be metaphorical and is meant to be read. The visual language she is engaged in is augmented by formal presentation. Diptychs and grids provide a format for relationships to flourish. Her subject matter may stem in part from being in such a fecund environment as southern Louisiana, but also from a disillusionment with social constructs and man’s arrogance. The beauty and the rule of nature is where her reverence lies, and she engages it in the process of making her work. Since hurricane Katrina she has been working in acrylics, watercolors, and photography stemming from the necessity to have quick drying, easily transportable work, a switch from her long time relationship with oils. Although not such a surprise shift, as Shawn has always worked in a variety of mediums including performance art, video, installation, set and costume design and assemblage, music, and cake.

Shawn received her MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art where she was a Patricia Harris Fellow. She has been in residence at School 33 in Baltimore, in NY through the LMCC, and in Los Angeles at 18th Street Art Center. Exhibitions include the Contemporary Art Center, Isaac Delgado Gallery, Barrister’s, Bassetti, and Antenna in New Orleans, Wolfson Gallery at Miami Dade, N.A.M.E. and Christopher Stokes in Chicago, The Hewitt Gallery and Bronx River Art Center in NYC, Van Brunt Gallery in Beacon, NY, Wagner-Sousa in Galveston, TX, and Chateau de La Napoule, in Mandelieu, France. Her work has been reviewed nationally in Art Papers, New Art Examiner, and dialogue. She is a part of the permanent collection of Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, Linklater Corporate collection in NYC, and private collections throughout the United States and Europe.