"Good art should move you, not match your furniture" ~Shana
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Artist's
Statement
Jean Cocteau was quoted as saying “an artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture”, and yet artists are consistently required to construct a statement that embodies the very nature of non-verbal communication. My hope, as an artist, is for my work to speak for itself directly to the person(s) standing before it. I am drawn to two basic elements of the human condition: the body and the spirit. By using these as subject matter, I find it’s hard not to have some exchange with another human being.
I’ve often thought of the creative process being as natural and unconscious as any other bodily function. It might not always be appealing, but it is necessary in maintaining a healthy being. Painting becomes a way of meditating, or transcending and I both lose and find myself in the process.
Recently, I've been developing a new style: neo-biomorphic abstraction. The idea here is to take the sensual organic forms that repeat themselves in my work and construct fantastic worlds from them. Small watercolor drawings are often used as a base image for the larger paintings. Eventually the paintings take on a life of their own and evolve into fleshy abstractions reminiscent of living things.
Biography
Shana Kohnstamm was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She won a scholarship from the Tennessee Art League in 1988 to go towards tuition of an art institution. She attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville as a Fine Arts Major. After college, Shana began working as a stained glass artist, both designing and constructing for several studios in Knoxville, Nashville and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Always finding employment in the art-related fields, Shana has taught art classes for adults and children, created murals for homes and businesses in New York, Florida and Nashville, and most frequently freelances as a Scenic Artist for several Nashville production houses. She was on the initial board of the Nashville-based Untitled Artist Group and served as installation chair for the Winter 2003 show at the Alan LeQuire gallery. In 2006 she created/curated the "Model Artist" show, which featured the works 22 Nashville artists portraying each other.
CV
Solo shows: 1998 Multiple Style Disorder, Jody's Nashville, TN.
2002 Selections from the Passion series, Janet Levine March Gallery, Nashville TN.
2005 Fleshing It Out: New Works by Shana Kohnstamm, Plowhaus Gallery, Nashville TN.
2007 Shana Kohnstamm, (fov) Studio, Nashville, TN.
Group Shows: Muse Haven Art Gallery, August 2002
Rumours Gallery, Kote's October 2002
Halcyart, November 2002
Muse Haven Art Gallery, December 2002
Untitled:Elements. Essence Room, Summer 2003
Plowhaus Artist Coop:Value Menu June 2003
Striped Door Gallery, August 2003
Untitled: Open fall 2003, Marathon Village
Striped Door Gallery, with Steven Hosey, Thea Suits, Anne Ambrose, Sept 2003
Halcyart, November 2003
Striped Door Gallery:Wall of Smalls, December 2003
Untitled:Blue. (installation chair) Alan LeQuire Gallery, winter 2003
Plowhaus Artist Coop:Heart 2 Heart, February 2004
Untitled:Seeds. Hair of the Dog, spring 2004
Untitled:The Art of Collaboration (co-curator) Pub of Love Ballroom, Summer 2004
Plowhaus: Naughty or Nice (co-curator/installation) December 2004
Newhaus/Plowhaus January 2005
Nashville Women Artists, Leu Gallery, Belmont University, March 2005
Passport to Art: Plowhaus - April 2005
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center: Esteemed Colleagues, April-June 2005
Gambit:second base, Studio Sobro, September 2005
The Model Artists (curator/instigator), Studio Sobro, March 2006
Gambit, Studio Sobro, May 2006
Untitled: Bloom, Crystalwood Gallery, June 2006
Full Circle Art Group, Streets, July-September 2006
Untitled: 11th Annual Glow Show, July 2006
Untitled: Heat, The Anchor, September 2006
Gambit 4, Twist Art Gallery, November 2006
Sugar & Spice, Twist Art Gallery, December 2006
Connect 12, Dangentart Gallery, September 2007
Honors/Awards: 1988 Tennessee Art League Scholarship
2003 Sensored's Starving Artist Award for Painting
Jean Cocteau was quoted as saying “an artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture”, and yet artists are consistently required to construct a statement that embodies the very nature of non-verbal communication. My hope, as an artist, is for my work to speak for itself directly to the person(s) standing before it. I am drawn to two basic elements of the human condition: the body and the spirit. By using these as subject matter, I find it’s hard not to have some exchange with another human being.
I’ve often thought of the creative process being as natural and unconscious as any other bodily function. It might not always be appealing, but it is necessary in maintaining a healthy being. Painting becomes a way of meditating, or transcending and I both lose and find myself in the process.
Recently, I've been developing a new style: neo-biomorphic abstraction. The idea here is to take the sensual organic forms that repeat themselves in my work and construct fantastic worlds from them. Small watercolor drawings are often used as a base image for the larger paintings. Eventually the paintings take on a life of their own and evolve into fleshy abstractions reminiscent of living things.
Biography
Shana Kohnstamm was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She won a scholarship from the Tennessee Art League in 1988 to go towards tuition of an art institution. She attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville as a Fine Arts Major. After college, Shana began working as a stained glass artist, both designing and constructing for several studios in Knoxville, Nashville and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Always finding employment in the art-related fields, Shana has taught art classes for adults and children, created murals for homes and businesses in New York, Florida and Nashville, and most frequently freelances as a Scenic Artist for several Nashville production houses. She was on the initial board of the Nashville-based Untitled Artist Group and served as installation chair for the Winter 2003 show at the Alan LeQuire gallery. In 2006 she created/curated the "Model Artist" show, which featured the works 22 Nashville artists portraying each other.
CV
Solo shows: 1998 Multiple Style Disorder, Jody's Nashville, TN.
2002 Selections from the Passion series, Janet Levine March Gallery, Nashville TN.
2005 Fleshing It Out: New Works by Shana Kohnstamm, Plowhaus Gallery, Nashville TN.
2007 Shana Kohnstamm, (fov) Studio, Nashville, TN.
Group Shows: Muse Haven Art Gallery, August 2002
Rumours Gallery, Kote's October 2002
Halcyart, November 2002
Muse Haven Art Gallery, December 2002
Untitled:Elements. Essence Room, Summer 2003
Plowhaus Artist Coop:Value Menu June 2003
Striped Door Gallery, August 2003
Untitled: Open fall 2003, Marathon Village
Striped Door Gallery, with Steven Hosey, Thea Suits, Anne Ambrose, Sept 2003
Halcyart, November 2003
Striped Door Gallery:Wall of Smalls, December 2003
Untitled:Blue. (installation chair) Alan LeQuire Gallery, winter 2003
Plowhaus Artist Coop:Heart 2 Heart, February 2004
Untitled:Seeds. Hair of the Dog, spring 2004
Untitled:The Art of Collaboration (co-curator) Pub of Love Ballroom, Summer 2004
Plowhaus: Naughty or Nice (co-curator/installation) December 2004
Newhaus/Plowhaus January 2005
Nashville Women Artists, Leu Gallery, Belmont University, March 2005
Passport to Art: Plowhaus - April 2005
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center: Esteemed Colleagues, April-June 2005
Gambit:second base, Studio Sobro, September 2005
The Model Artists (curator/instigator), Studio Sobro, March 2006
Gambit, Studio Sobro, May 2006
Untitled: Bloom, Crystalwood Gallery, June 2006
Full Circle Art Group, Streets, July-September 2006
Untitled: 11th Annual Glow Show, July 2006
Untitled: Heat, The Anchor, September 2006
Gambit 4, Twist Art Gallery, November 2006
Sugar & Spice, Twist Art Gallery, December 2006
Connect 12, Dangentart Gallery, September 2007
Honors/Awards: 1988 Tennessee Art League Scholarship
2003 Sensored's Starving Artist Award for Painting
