ARTIST STATEMENT
Shannon Twohy works as a director, playwright, artistic instructor, and actor in the Twin Cities where she covers new ground in adaptations of existing theater work while creating and cultivating contemporary, ensemble-based collaborative work. Her stage work includes special focus on disability and redefining who partakes in the artistic process. Shannon found a passion for embroidery arts after spending hours at hospital waiting rooms while her father underwent treatment for cancer. Shannon sees this tangible medium as an extension to explore the grieving process, pop culture, her past and future all through the lens of what is widely seen as a “woman’s craft.” Shannon is self-taught in the artistry of embroidery and often leans on influences of woodblock prints, pop culture, religious artifacts, and human anatomy as she attempts to “paint” or “carve” with thread. Shannon co-founded the fiber arts collective, The Snips, which has created a new and welcoming space to Minnesota-based fiber and textile artists while breaking ground artistically with exhibits and community events grounded in social change through the lens of shared zeitgeist. Shannon’s first solo exhibition, Saints of the Abattoir (2021), was met with critical acclaim where her work was described as, “Heironymus Bosch but with a feminist twist.” Beyond embroidery, Shannon also practices with various textile mediums, ceramics, painting, and mixed media. Shannon received a B.A in Theatre Arts and Film from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Shannon Twohy works as both a theater and visual artist in the Twin Cities. Shannon has exhibited her work at Open Eye Figure Theater, Fresh Eye Gallery, North Suburban Center for the Arts, Otherworldly Arts Collective, and the Snips locally while recently showing her embroidery at Trash Lamb Gallery in San Diego, CA, Midwest Nice in Aberdeen, SD, and Semioculus in Tartu, Estonia. Shannon instructs a variety of fiber arts classes for the Textile Center and Knit & Bolt. Shannon is also the co-founder and Executive Director of The Snips, a Twin Cities-based feminist fiber arts collective. Shannon received a B.A in Theatre Arts and Film from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI.
© Shannon Twohy