My entire life has been intersecting with my art
As a child, I spent the majority of my time outside exploring and creating things. As a biologist, I learned how to observe the natural world and ask questions. As a designer, I learned about the foundations and principles of design and how to apply them. As a professional paddlesports coach and kayak expeditioner, I see and experience the world from sea level at the pace in which you walk. This path was invaluable training and indispensable experience for me to become an artist.
I am Painter, a printmaker, a scientist, a reader, an athlete, and a student of Life.
Shawna Marie Franklin’s recent art is a deep dive into the places she literally cannot go. Always fascinated with varying perspectives and wondering how humans and other animals see and experience the world,. Shawna begins her process with direct observations of the natural world in the form of drawings, photos, and essays along with her imagination to form a story-image of what it may be like to be a wasp, a kelp frond, a tree, a crow, or another human. Exploring these concepts through printmaking, painting, and drawings, Shawna seeks to create an image that is relatable from a scientific and a philosophical vantage point. She has a strong interest in portraying the fact that humans are only a part of a much wider interdependent ecosystem. Shawna feels that by taking the time to appreciate “otherness” we widen our circle of empathy, and by doing so, we are able to live together on this “only-planet “with others in a more balanced, nuanced and healthy manner. Her art is diverse, layered, and thoughtful. Her recent projects, Kelp Impressions - Kelp at “I” Level, and The Vespula Project - I am a Wasp reflect this lifetime pursuit.
Shawna Marie Franklin is a Washington based multi-disciplinary visual artist. Shawna holds a Bachelor of Science in Apparel Design. Work in London with a fashion designer guided her understanding of the intersection of creativity with commerce. Studying biology and work as a field biologist honed her observational skills and cemented her connection to the non-human world. Shawna spent twenty years experiencing the world at sea level as a professional coach and co-owner of an award winning paddlesports school. She is the first woman to circumnavigate Iceland by kayak. Shawna has studied under artists Terry L. Johnson and Klara Glosova. She is a recent recipient of the Society of Botanical Art Diploma Program. Her choice of artistic motifs, style, and worldview have been informed by her unconventional pathway to becoming a professional artist, her deliberate submersion into nature, and a lifelong pursuit of color, design, pattern, and collage. Shawna moved to Orcas island in 1995 with her husband Leon Somme, and together they live with Francis and Fletcher, two favorite feline muses. Shawna finally has the time to bring it all together in her home based studio on Orcas Island.
“As a child, I spent the majority of my time outside exploring and creating things. As a biologist, I learned how to observe the natural world and ask questions. As a designer, I learned about the foundations and principles of design and how to apply them. As a professional paddlesports coach and kayak expeditioner, I see and experience the world from sea level at the pace in which you walk. This path was invaluable training and indispensable experience for me to become an artist.”