Owing to an interest in art history and contemporary culture, Shanon Playford is something of a painting chameleon. She allows her ideas (or subjects) to dictate the style and approach taken for each new series. Her work demonstrates an unstoppable curiosity for the “what if." Embracing inconsistency as her signature style, she identifies herself as a project/theme-oriented artist. Shanon works primarily in oil. She infuses her work with a keen knowledge of – and playful irreverence to – traditional skills and techniques.

Having decided she wanted to be an artist in kindergarten, she has been steadily painting & drawing ever since. Shanon graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997 and studied at the School of the Museum Fine Arts in Boston. She lives and paints in her native Portland, Oregon were she co-founded The Portland Art Open, a three day citywide event, whose goal is to make art fun, interesting, and accessible.