Shannon Pawliw (she/her) is a Vancouver-based artist, curator, and designer whose practice spans painting, conceptual installation, and socially engaged projects. She holds a BFA in Studio Art from Concordia University and has maintained an active creative practice alongside a career in graphic design for more than two decades.

Pawliw’s work is rooted in an ongoing curiosity about value, labour, identity, memory, and the systems that shape how we understand and experience art. Her projects often move between the personal and the collective, using humour, colour, repetition, participation, and everyday materials to examine larger cultural questions. Recent work has explored the undervaluing of artistic and domestic labour, aging and visibility, nostalgia, and the relationship between art and commerce.

In 2020, Pawliw founded THIS Gallery, an independent contemporary art gallery in Vancouver, where she serves as Artistic Director and curator. Her work with THIS extends her studio practice into community building, creating opportunities for artists while exploring more accessible and direct ways for audiences to encounter, participate in, and collect contemporary art.

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EXHIBITIONS

2025 – A Bright Mark Left | THIS Gallery | group exhibition with Jean Paul Langlois and Charlene Vickers | Vancouver, BC

2025 – Maker + Mother | Parker Street Gallery | group exhibition | Vancouver, BC

2024 – The Anti-Bland Brigade | THIS Gallery | solo exhibition | Vancouver, BC

2024 – Vancouver Civic Theatres | Queen Elizabeth Theatre | Vancouver, BC

2023 – Hold Everything Dear | THIS Gallery | solo exhibition | Vancouver, BC

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

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

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

2021 – Microscapes | Gibsons Public Art Gallery | solo exhibition – 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