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 her 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 Assistant 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 nationally and internationally. Most recently her work has been featured in Lincoln, California for the prestigious Feats of Clay exhibition, in China for the Contemporary Young Ceramics Exhibition: Our Generation, and in St. Charles Missouri for the Of the Earth show at the Foundry Art Center. Her work was selected for the book 500 Ceramic Sculptures and for Ceramics Monthly's review of the Clay on the Wall Exhibition. Sullivan was invited to participate in Eureka's First Street Gallery Holiday Invitational in December of 2009 and currently, Sullivan's work is featured in a solo exhibition called Coalesce at The Studio Gallery at Brookhaven College in Dallas, TX.