Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Shannon Sullivan lives and works in Eureka, 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 a 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 Valley Ford, CA for an exhibition called Confluxat Gallery V Contemporary Art. Her work was selected for the book 500 Ceramic Sculptures and for Ceramics Monthly'sreview of the Clay on the Wall Exhibition. Sullivan's most recent solo exhibition entitled Cross Sectionswas in July of 2011 at the Artisan Gallery in Paoli, WI.  She is currently preparing for an upcoming solo exhibition at Roscoe Gallery in Oakland, CA that will take place in April of 2012.