A:LIST A Project of the Hyde Park Art Center

Shannon Kerrigan

Artist Information

Born: 1973, Chicago, IL
Currently Resides: Chicago, IL

Contact Information:
kerriganarts (at) sbcglobal (dot) net

Medium(s) Worked in:
Painting
Sculpture
Metalwork
Ceramics
Photography
Printmaking
Paper/Book
Textile
Jewelry
Mixed-media
Watercolors
Pen/Pencil
Murals
Installation

Artist CV:
Download file

Available for Commission: Yes

Represented by:
Self

HPAC Exhibitions

2006, Material Science
2005, Shannon Kerrigan, Recent Work

Artist Statement

Part ❶ metals

BFA, 1996, The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Her professional experience has ranged from maintaining a welding shop to producing hand made paper invitations in her studio. She has worked for some of Chicago’s preeminent Arts Organizations including; Artsbridge, ARC Gallery, Chicago Public Art and Redmoon Theatre. A decade of teaching experience includes: Gallery 37, A.R.T., The Chicago Park District and Lill Street. Since joining the Hyde Park Art Center in 2000 she has been an artist in residence in over a dozen schools in a variety of programs. She is presently the Curriculum Developer and Lead Artist at the University of Chicago Charter High School Woodlawn Campus. Last year Shannon completed two commissions for private collectors and her metal work was included in shows at HPAC and The Chicago Art Source.

Shannon writes:

I’ve always been interested in steel in some way. As a kid in Indiana my family’s bread and butter came from Inland Steel, where my dad was a mechanical foreman. Which meant that if anything at all needed fixing, my dad would have to put together a team and figure out how to overhaul whatever it was. He also applied the same engineering intensity to household projects; like building me a basketball hoop. It was a neighborhood joke that NASA could launch a rocket ship from the aggressive structure he proudly mounted on our garage. Oftentimes in the evenings we would sit around the dinner table, our eyes glazing over, as he would try to explain exactly what had happened to blast furnace number two or ore bridge number six.

In art school I tried painting which was a disaster (not unlike my stint on the seventh grade basketball team by the way.) It wasn’t until later when I really learned how to use a torch that I finally felt at home. These pieces are connected to those long nights at the dinner table and on the phone with my dad, picking his brain about the nature of steel.

It wasn’t until later when I really learned how to use a torch that I finally felt at home.

The process is simple and meditative. It’s really a lot like sewing: The control, the line work the repetition. The reductive manner of cutting with a torch allows me to let the images of biomorphic forms flow easily; like the heat flows from the torch. The second you disrupt the surface of the metal it answers with a spot of blue black and later rust, conveying it’s potential for metamorphosis. I prefer this to high shine and find it better to let the steels natural beauty emerge slowly over time. It is a process of growth, disintegration and rebirth.

Part ❷ Creative home

mother artist teacher wife daughter collaborator patient friend neighbor consumer drinker sister traveler artist groupie activist

I’m always conscious of finding a balance between home life and being a parent and taking pleasure in the simple beauty of everyday.

After art school with endless possibilities and opportunities I became a jack of all trades (master of none). There was The Fulton Market stint in a rented ground floor art studio cum metal shop. Have you heard the one about the salty architect, the furniture design star, the bartending amazon blacksmith and the occasional unmedicated sculpture grad student? ….sounds like a crazy reality show right? Well it was. I like to call that 1996-1998. Then I fell in love with a painter from Chicago and we had a baby and it’s hard to breast-feed and weld simultaneously so I took a position with public art. This sometimes involved sitting in The city’s public art spaces. In my favorite,The State Street Bridge Gallery, I had a particularly illuminating experience with a light and video installation by Bill Viola. The already underground space was perpetually cloaked in hazy blue staccato light prompting many of the Wacker Drive dwellers (pre construction) to spend hours standing at the plexiglass partition that separated them from the gallery. They were trying to grasp what the heck was going on under their bridge. This story is an example of the strange ways art and life compete and compliment in this urban life. And of the worlds I’ve been straddling in my post formal education decade. I’m always conscious of finding a balance between home life and being a parent and taking pleasure in the simple beauty of everyday. It was around this time that I began teaching for and at The Hyde Park Art Center. It was one of those rare times in life when all of your skills, experience and friendships come together. The Art Center has allowed me to continue learning through teaching. It has become a home for my creative energy. Again I feel as though I’m on the edge of all sorts of possibilities and opportunities only this time I actually get paid to be a jack of all trades.

The Art Center has allowed me to continue learning through teaching. It has become a home for my creative energy.

Artist Bio

Shannon Kerrigan
BFA, 1996,The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Her professional experience has ranged from maintaining a welding shop to producing hand made paper invitations in her home studio. She has worked for Artsbridge, ARC Gallery and Chicago Public Art. A decade of teaching experience includes: Gallery 37, A.R.T., The Chicago Park District and Lill Street. Since joining the Hyde Park Art Center in 2000 she has been an artist in residence in many schools in a variety of programs. She exhibits her work in Chicago and is presently making objects and installations for Chicago’s Redmoon Theater. Shannon is teaching Adult Printmaking and Creativity Camp during session Three this summer.

Press & Publications

coming soon…

Past Commissions

coming soon…

Teaching Experience

Shannon has worked for Artsbridge, ARC Gallery and Chicago Public Art. A decade of teaching experience includes: Gallery 37, A.R.T., The Chicago Park District and Lill Street. Since joining the Hyde Park Art Center in 2000 she has been an artist in residence in many schools in a variety of programs.

She is teaching Adult Printmaking and Creativity Camp during session Three this summer (2006).