About Shannon Christensen

ME

Creativity heals & helps us be happy

I was creative as a child and teen but I gave up after a college art course. The joy was robbed out of it.

My life and family grew along with its demands. It was hard. I knew I needed to balance the giving with some getting. I took some art classes. It was different this time, like a breath of fresh air. Creating became fun again. Until the day everything changed.

Our oldest, Leila, spent her first nine days in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and almost exactly 28 years later we spent a week with her in the hospital watching her die. She died but gave birth to a son.

My heart broke in a million pieces and sorrow became my new normal. I cried everyday and it went on for months. I was doing all the tasks of the day but I didn't feel joy anymore.

One day my husband Allen felt inspired, "How about taking the rental house and making it into your studio?" It seemed like such a small thing but at that moment my heart skipped a beat. An excited, creative heartbeat. One that I thought had died with my daughter.

There's something in the creative process that heals and helps us stay healthy and happy. Subconsciously, I'd always known and felt that all my life. I just hadn't recognized creativity's worth.

+ YOU

You have a creative heartbeat,
listen for it

My life experiences and study have lead me to believe that everyone is born creative. Everyone has an inner artist even if they don't recognize it. For example, when people find out I'm an artist, a painter in particular, they continue the conversation with, "You ought to paint..." then they describe an image they have in their mind. It happens All. The. Time. I often wonder why they don't create their image. When I ask them why they don't paint (or draw, sculpt, write, or form) their ideas they are ready with the answer that school/society/self has brainwashed them with...

"I'm not creative!"

How many times have you heard that? Or said that? Over time we either embrace or abandon that thought. I've done both.

Creativity is the power to create, to bring something to life. The something made, the end result, is our expression made manifest. When we enjoy the process of making we come alive. We remember something innate about ourself - that we were born creative. No one ever really lives until they venture to be creative.

That's why I teach. I need art. You need art. Everyone needs to make something. And I can help do that.

= LOOK WHAT WE CAN DO

There is sheer joy in making

Creativity is a big, wonderful, life-building process. When you've created something that you can hold up and say,

"Look What I Made!"

you come alive!

At Shannon's Studio I bridge the creative gap from where you are to where you want to be.
Join me and we'll have a creative journey together.

Shannon Christensen

Ten Things About Shannon Christensen of Shannon's Studio

1. She married her teenage boyfriend and sewed her wedding dress and his suit.
2. Is a Mother of 9 children and sewed matching outfits and play clothes for them growing up.
3. A few years ago she started Mom 2.0 raising her deceased daughter and son-in-law's baby boy Joseph.
4. After being a stay at home for 32 years is reinventing herself as a Fabric/Surface Pattern Designer and Creative Coach.
5. Her past creative lives include being a watercolor teacher at Sundance Resort, a fine artist featured in Western Art Collector magazine, a one time t.v. appearance with her studio space as inspiration for HGTV's Rate My Space, an illustrator for magazines, a parade float builder, a candy window display creator, and a speaker of her art to an International Delegation for Family Policy.
6.She graduated from BYU with a BFA in Illustration at 42, the same day as her 19 year old daughter graduated with a BA in English.
Started painting at 5, crocheting at 8, sewing at 12, embroidery at 13, first quilt at 14, drawing at 15, flat pattern design at 18, paper crafts at 22, portraits at 25, acrylics at 30, computer graphics at 33, gouche at 38, oils at 40, watercolors at 52, and fabric designer at 55.
Has taught art, craft, and lifestyle classes for 35 years and currently teaches Skillshare classes online.
Is thrilled to be a Windham Fabric designer and has her releasing her 3rd collection.
Believes creativity is not just for the "creative" and that she can lead others through their creative journeys following the motto ME + YOU = Look What We Can Do.