Shannon Cahalane

Born and raised in Burlington, Connecticut, Shannon Cahalane graduated in 2021 from the University of New Hampshire’s BFA drawing program. She promptly moved to Brooklyn afterward, turning rooftops and park benches into her studio, sketching each day with vigor on her lunch breaks.

Resonating with the German Expressionist's emotional intensity and the Romanticist's notions of the sublime, she juxtaposes linear and organic marks. The aim is to induce Pareidolia-the tendency of the human brain to seek out familiar images in amorphous forms. Inspired by Octavia Butler's philosophy that “God is Change '' and the adjacent ideologies of the Impressionists- she aims to give viewers something to return to in which their interpretation remains in flux.

Working abstractly, she often utilizes multiple points of view. In letting her attention dance between visual reference, compositional concerns, and the emotional release of methodical mark-making- Shannon seeks to alchemize frustration into feelings of expansion and overwhelm. Hope and wonder. The aim is to sway the viewer's experience from familiar observation to immersive reinterpretation. Through engaging with the abstract and embracing ambiguity, she believes we can learn to navigate change with compassionate curiosity and grace; empowering ourselves and our communities in the ever-uncertain face of the future.