Arena Shawn was a science major and obtained a Ph.D. in Physics in 2008 from Purdue University. However, alongside science she has always had a passion for art. After coming to United States for graduate school, Arena took the opportunity to attend many art classes and painting workshops around the country with nationally-renowned instructors. Eventually, her calling to art has led her to leave her engineering job in Silicon Valley, and begin a study of classical drawing and painting methods following the 19th-century French academic lineage in the Golden Gate Atelier in Oakland, CA. It is there that she studied traditional life drawing, painting, and sculpture with great emphasis on in-depth study and classical techniques and the joy of working in a direct observational style in nature.
Arena is the recipient of many prestigious awards, among which were National Oil and Acrylics Painter’s Association 2023 “Best of America” 2023 National Juried Exhibition “Best of Still Life” Award, American Impressionist Society 2023 National Juried Associate Member Show “Award of Excellence”, Oil Painters America 2021 Online Showcase and National Oil and Acrylics Painter’s Association Fall 2021 Online International Juried Competition Honorable Mention, and Art Renewal Center 2022 Salon Inclusion, Hilton Head Art League 2023 Biannual National Juried Exhibition First Place winner, and Alexandria Museum 2022 September National Juried Exhibition First Place winner. She is professionally affiliated with many art groups, including but not limited to the California Art Club, Hoosier Salon, Oil Painters of America, National Oil and Acrylics Painter’s Society, American Impressionist Society and Portrait Society of America. Arena is the signature member of Illinois Watercolor Society, San Diego Watercolor Society and Red River Watercolor Society.
In her pursuit of art, Arena tries to use charcoal, pencil, brush and paints to reflect the quiet lights, subtle colors and playful shapes exhibited by seemingly mundane, everyday subjects. Striving for the emotional quality of every piece she creates, Arena hopes that her work would be able to reach out and connect with their viewers, evoking the sense of wonder and awe of our everyday life that are so often taken as granted.
Her primary working method in drawing involves direct observation from life using traditional sight-size method and aims at achieving a strong impression of light and its cascading effect down the human figure or a particular still-life setup, while in the same time paying special attention to create strong and unified value patterns, specific organic half-tone shapes and incrementally softened edge quality from the center of focus outwards throughout the drawing.
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