Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Shannon Sullivan lives  and works in Arcata, California. She earned a B.F.A. in ceramics from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2002. She earned an M.F.A in ceramics with a minor in sculpture from the University of North Texas, School of Visual Arts in 2005. Currently, Sullivan is an Associate Professor of Art at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, CA.

 With a core visual vocabulary rooted in the prevailing ways of nature, Sullivan creates sculptures, wall pieces and installations that are evocative of microscopic imagery, sprouting garden rows, or dissected kelp. Her work maintains a seductive, mysterious quality as she explores the nuances present  in the living world. Referencing the languages of painting, drawing, and sculpture, Sullivan is  expanding the possibilities of clay as an art material. 

 Sullivan's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums both nationally and internationally. Most recently her work has been featured in Germany for the  the Nassauischen Sparkasse: Mixed Media, exhibition curated by Monika Gass at the Ceramics Museum Westerwald in Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany, in China for the Contemporary Young Ceramics Exhibition: Our Generation, and  also in Chicago, IL for the Midnight Snacks Exhibition curated by Brian Hubble and Amie Cunat.  Her work was selected for  the book 500 Ceramic Sculptures  and for Ceramics Monthly's review of the Clay on the Wall Exhibition.  Sullivan's most recent solo exhibition entitled Coalesce was in January of 2010 at Brookhaven College in Dallas, TX.