Statement
Visceral environments, womb landscapes, places where alien beings and familiar feelings might both germinate and grow. My process of image development confounds me. The paintings themselves evolve once the seed is planted (painted), seemingly without my guidance. The images mature in stages, growing like organisms or plants do in their efforts to reach the light, the surface.

There is an unusual amount of Life, Death and Science that permeates my daily life (being married to a research physician). Conversations regarding microbiology over coffee, patient care while folding laundry, the passing of one's soul from body as we ourselves drift off to sleep are part of my everyday. I have had to learn to talk about blood and bone, breath and skin, natural order and biological corruption, in the same ways I have been used to talking about color and light, friends and lovers, or even groceries and gossip. Is it any wonder that what has evolved are fleshy mounds that sprout and pulsate?

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.