Shannon Amidon

Shannon’s artwork explores the cycles of life, calling attention to its transitory and fragile nature. Working primarily in the ancient medium of encaustic (molten beeswax), she often incorporates organic and ephemeral materials into her artwork. Her subject matter often includes a variety of natural history elements including insects, botanicals, seed pods, and birds as well as ancient symbolism and geometry. By interlacing science, nature and memories Shannon strives to create pensive and familiar images that transport the viewer to another time and place, evocative of a moment filled with exploration, wonder and discovery.

"As an encaustic artist, I am keenly attuned to the bond between art and nature; honeybees produce the wax I use for my encaustic paint. But there are other reasons that I explore natural history and environmental issues through my artwork: my formative years involved a substantial amount of time surrounded by and exploring nature. Those childhood roots stimulated my personal, political, and aesthetic concern with our current ecological challenges. I use my curiosity about these ecological interconnections to create paintings and installations that draw attention to our environmental crises. Through images of bees, honeycombs, dragonflies, moths, and other flora and fauna, I put my encaustic materials to emphatic use—these pieces not only portray a threatened world, but they also call attention to the fact that the very medium of encaustic cannot exist without the survival of bees." ~ Shannon Amidon, Portland OR