Sylvia Shanahan

I have always been an adventurer. As a child I never had the discipline to sit still and draw. I could consistently be found outside seeking new trees to climb, fields to discover and unspoiled nature to look for treasures the outdoors offered.

In my later years, after retiring from a successful career in marketing, advertising and sales, that same spirit came through while I explored new territory in color and technique. Although I have experienced some success in landscapes, my work has increasingly evolved into abstract and expressionism. It’s where I find total freedom in developing my “brand”, so to speak. To me, branding is creating emotion. When you watch a Publix commercial, there are no food or grocery store images. Their ads are sometimes sappy, sometimes schmaltzy but with few exceptions, leave you with a good feeling and a positive vibe towards the chain of stores. That’s branding. Publix knows how to tap into sentiment and that there’s something to be said about what you feel.

In my work, I strive to evoke emotion whether in representational art or abstract through color, intensity, texture, and juxtaposition of shapes. It involves a sensitivity that reaches beyond the hues and the threads of a canvas and outward ex...

• Magna Cum Laude graduate of Kent State University with a BFA in Graphic Design
• Continuing education classes and workshops in oil painting, pastels, landscapes, portraits and fabric design

• Emerging Artists Show, Galvez Woodfield Gallery, St. Pete, Fl, 2023
• Zatista, online source for original art, 2015
• Art in Bloom, Kaleisia Tea Lounge, Tampa, Florida 2014
• The Fine Line between Fine Art and Illustration, Canyon Crossing Gallery, Brattleboro, VT. 1997
• Act III: The works of Three Emerging Artists, Akron, Ohio, 1996
• Act III: The Works of Three Emerging Artists, Hudson, Ohio, 1996
• Hower House Art and Competition, Akron, Ohio, 1995
• Patrons’ Choice, Akron, Ohio, 1994
• Akron Society of Artists Members Show, Akron, Ohio, 1994, 95 & 96
• Crooked River Art Festival, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, 1994, 95 & 96
• Akron in Art, Tomorrow’s Treasures Gallery, Akron, Ohio 1993, 94 & 95