Shannon Christie is an illustrator and mental healthcare worker living in Portland, OR. Born in SoCal and transplanted to the PNW as a child, Shannon grew up running around rivers & mountainsides in hot summers, and in the cold and dark winters would spend her time incubating and developing all her skills, schemes, goals and dreams for the future. She attended the University of Oregon where she majored in Psychology + minored in both Music & Studio Art, and received her Master's of Applied Psychology in August 2020 from Sacred Heart University.
Her work is highly reflective of her background, exploring themes of identity and emotion while incorporating elements of whimsicality and surrealism through digital and laser-cut mediums. The focuses on both psychology and art in her life give her inspiration and perspective on how a piece moves a person and how creativity connects us all. The big aim of all the work she creates is to make people see the world from a different lens than what they may look through normally, without telling or showing people what to think or believe. Shannon firmly believes that everyone has intuition that can be nourished and developed over time, and that we are perfectly capable of illuminating our own paths to find our own senses of it. She also believes that aesthetically pleasing and inspiring things can serve as tools for striking our matches and lighting the way forward.
From 2020-2022, Shannon ran Ragtag Magazine, a web publication focusing on uplifting makers of the PNW, highlighting how creativity can both make things beautiful, propel forward human rights, and answer life's big questions. She served as Editor-in-Chief to a team of over 30 people. You can find more information on the work Ragtag created at their Instagram.
Currently, Shannon has made a second home for herself at The Haven PDX, an eclectic collective of artists, makers, and healers that forge both new and ancestral ways of creating and holding community. She and her laser cutter are tucked away in one of the lofts, and if you look up once in a while you’ll catch her probably throwing a paper airplane at someone off the bridge overlooking the gallery. Her work is featured both in their retail space, or on the road at one of the many festivals and events The Haven creates, curates, or partners with.
"Illustration is an often overlooked field of art, mistaken for being “cartoonish” or meant only for children’s literature. Shannon Christie’s work contrasts this concept with a sublimely stylized and varied collection of illustrations that feature struggles with mental health, severing one’s own roots, and the divine power of femininity. Often times she blends the natural world into her work, calling to the forefront the connection between the viewer and the environment around them. Her imagery can at times be soft and subtle, flowing as fish and gorgeously drawn flowers; other times it is jagged and fierce through erupting crystals and droplets of blood. Take time with [her] illustrations to notice their details, their beauty, and their truths."
- Julia Alora, Nailed Magazine
PAST SHOWS, PROJECTS & COLLABORATIONS:
SAVE ART SPACE OPEN CALL - February 17th, 2020 - April 8th, 2020
OASIS OF CHANGE PORTLAND GALLERY FEATURE - January 10th, 2020 - July 10th, 2020
BULA KAVA PORTLAND GALLERY SHOW - January 3rd, 2020 - February 15th, 2020
BELLA x SHANNON CHRISTIE - Side Effects of Remembering the Little Things
PRESS:
08/09/2022 - BREAKING DOWN PATRIARCHY - Podcast Guest Feature
07/07/2021 - SUNFLOWER STATION MAGAZINE - Interview with Shannon Christie
04/08/2020 - NAILED MAGAZINE - Artist Feature: Shannon Christie
10/03/2019 - NAILED MAGAZINE - Poetry Suite by Bella