Shannon Pawliw (b. 1970, Saskatoon, Canada) works in painting, sculpture and site-specific installation. Her work is colourful, immersive and bold to the point of being cartoonish. Both the painted and 3D work is rooted in organic forms and gesture.

Pawliw works in exploratory series that are undertaken with the explicit intent of creating fantasy-based objects built around ideas, practices, and concepts that fascinate her. These ideas and concepts are as diverse as nostalgia, memory, family, loss, and microbes. They tend to involve an immersive (and often obsessive) years-long study of the subject. But ultimately, her work is firmly rooted in optimism and naïveté.

EXHIBITIONS

2022 – NEXT | Alternative Creations Gallery (Eastside Culture Crawl) | group exhibit | Vancouver, BC

2022 – Watershed | THIS Gallery | solo exhibition – installation and painting | Vancouver, BC

2021 – On the Edge | Federation Gallery | group exhibit – painting | Vancouver, BC

2021 – Microscapes | Gibsons Public Art Gallery | solo exhibit – sculpture and painting | Gibsons, BC

2020 – Anti-Social | Yactac | virtual group exhibition – painting | Online Only (Covid-19 Lockdown)

2016 – Every Place I’ve Ever Lived | Stretch Vancouver | solo exhibit – painting | Vancouver, BC

2015 – Art at the Manor | Stanley Park Manor | group exhibit | Vancouver, BC

2004 – Mouth To Mouth | AKA Artist Run Centre | solo exhibit | Saskatoon, SK

2003 to present – An Archive of Lost Things | online exhibit – anarchiveoflostthings.com

2002 – Dust | Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery | undergraduate group exhibit | Montreal, PQ

2002 – Mills Purchase Prize recipients exhibit | Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery | Montreal, PQ

2002 – REaD | Sandra Goldie Gallery | group exhibit | Montreal, PQ

2002 – Let’s Have a Dream, Piece to Peace  | S.P.I.N. Gallery | charity art auction organized by Tomo Lennon and Yoko Ono | Toronto, ON

2002 – Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition | Toronto, ON

2002 – FED | Cafe Vienne | group exhibit | Montreal, PQ

2002 – Pretty Stories | Gallery 1849 | solo exhibit | Montreal, PQ

2002 – Gallery 1849 | curatorial gallery project | Montreal, PQ

2001 – Domestic Monuments | Concordia VAV Gallery | group exhibit curated by Marisa Portolese and Geneviève Cadieux | Montreal, PQ

2001 – Hotel Project | Room 1011, Holiday Inn Hotel | collaborative, site-specific installation with Jeanie Riddle | Montreal, QC

2001 – This is. | Concordia VAV Gallery  | solo exhibit | with Jennifer Lefort | Montreal, PQ

2000 – LEAP | Find Me Someone to Love | Belgo Building | group exhibit | Montreal, PQ

1999 –  Community Arts Council Gallery | solo exhibit – painting | Victoria, BC

AWARDS, GRANTS, AND PRIZES

Long-listed for the Jackson’s Painting Prize | 2021
Long-listed for the Jackson’s Painting Prize | 2020
First Runner Up in Moleskine Asia Illustration Competition | 2007
Saskatchewan Arts Board Grant | 2006
Mills Purchase Prize | Dust | 2002
Derek C. Hannaford Scholarship | 2002
DuMaurier Art Production Grant | An Archive of Lost Things | 2001