Shawn A Beesley
Shawnbeesley58@gmail.com
Born: Las Vegas, Nevada. 1968
Moved to: Idaho Falls, Idaho. 1969
Moved to: Kennewick, Washington 1978
Graduate: Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 1991
(Fine art, printmaking)
Moved to: Seattle, Washington 1995
Artistic Journey
I have a degree in printmaking from Washington State University. My first real job after college was at “The Art Council of the Mid-Columbia Region”. In all my years of doing art, I never experienced the other side of art. Totally out of my way of thinking. Business. Politics. I was in a different world. I was a paid intern, working for the state. My boss was a woman full of moxie. Always quick to argue, always quick to laugh, confrontational. But it was all for art. She gave me my first show.
That is when I realized I was never going to fit in. All I wanted to do was make art. Stuff that had never existed. Just pull it out of the ether.
But I still had ambition. Kennewick was not going to fulfill my needs. During a trip over to Seattle to catch “White Zombie,” I put my resume and an application in at Daniel Smith. As a printmaker, this was the only place to get your paper. Before the tinnitus stopped, I received a call from them wanting an interview. I moved to Seattle in 1995 and worked for Daniel Smith until 2000. The artists I met, the different people from different worlds. Lifelong friendships.
I was in some shows. Some big. Some small. Mostly bars, nightclubs, and salons. Some galleries, but those were usually group shows. If you ask me what galleries or what show, I couldn’t say. I never felt it was too important to keep an artist’s resume. Seemed political to me. Who knows you, who knows them, who knows who. But that was life. I would sell a large piece every once in a while, but mostly small pieces. Commissions here and there. Never a lot. Money fluctuates, and living situations fluctuate. Never getting a consistent grasp on the art world. Never stopped doing art. Just in the shadows.
Now I’ve moved back to Kennewick to be closer to Mom. I have found the time, space, and stability I’ve been looking for to create.
