Bio

Shana Kohnstamm, born in 1970, was raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She attended both the Art Academy of Cincinnati and the University of Tennessee before pursuing employment in a variety of art careers, including stained glass designer, muralist, bead-maker and scenic artist. In 2006, she created and curated the "Model Artist" show, which featured the works 22 Nashville artists portraying each other in a variety of mediums. Shana is an active member of the Nashville-based Connect 12 Artist Collective and participates regularly in a collaborative of international artists found at SpreadArt.net. Having lived in New York, Florida, Ohio and Massachusetts, Shana is settled once again in Nashville with her husband, Josh, and their dog, Marzipan.

Statement

I cannot remember a time when I was not making art, but it took me a long time to finally be comfortable calling myself an artist. At age 31, I had this epiphany “Art-making is my one lifelong constant”, and for the first time I could see my future following along that same line that had delivered me to that point. It was a simple and life-altering realization.

If beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder, then the artist must be a prism. He or she takes that invisible pure light and transforms it into a thing of pure color. Of course, creation is still an act of work, but the aspiration of having those seemingly effortless moments, when the work flows and the artist seems to disappear is enough to drive us forward. I live for those moments of transcendence and the canvas itself is secondary to the process.