Shannon Wardroper

Shannon, who currently resides and teaches on Salt Spring Island, studied Textiles and Art history at Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Drawing at Emily Carr College of Art, Vancouver and finally a Masters in Arts Education - Simon Fraser University, Vancouver.

Shannon lived, studied, taught and exhibited in Japan, Thailand and the U.K. for over a decade with sojourns throughout S.E. Asia for study and research. Her love of nature is reflected in her abstracted botanical imagery which culminated in repeat exhibits at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower show as well as the Museum of Garden History, London.

During a Masters degree in Arts Education that began in Northern Thailand and ultimately finished here in Canada, Shannon pushed the envelope with her textiles to expand into the three dimensional, as well as performative installation fibre work, set within the forest. Her textiles utilize motifs, materials, techniques, cultural references and storytelling from her time abroad to highlight and question current societal and global challenges related to technology and nature.

Shannon teaches from her Salt Spring studio. Other teaching with Vancouver island University, Maiwa, Metchosin Summer School of the Arts, Vancouver Island school of Art as well as delivering immersive Textile workshops and lectures in Canada and abroad keeps her busy and connected.

2023 saw her exhibiting two of the pieces from the Doomscrolling series at a conference entitled “Technology for Social Cohesion” in San Francisco. Hosted by the people from the Center for Humane technology, specifically Tristan Harris, the creator of the documentary “ The Social Dilemma” , the conference brought together global peacekeepers and concerned key tech industry people along with lawmakers and mental health professionals in a creative exchange towards creating guardrails and “building codes” within social media and online platforms given the social fraying and mental health crisis now so readily apparent.

Unintended consequences of an attention economy?