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BIO

Currently based in Kansas City, Missouri, Andrea Shonna Simon works in Paint and Expanded Media. Her self-reflective work uses the practice of making as a means of directing attention to moments of life that serve as negative space. In exploration of self, the body of work frequently addresses themes of queerness, gender, religion, white-trash culture, nostalgia, memory, and relationships. Painting serves as a mediation on prioritization and preciousness, while the materially diverse works offer space for connectedness between seemingly disparate aspects within personal narratives. She received her BFA in Painting from the University of Central Missouri in 2018 and her MFA in Craft from Oregon College of Art and Craft facilitated through Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2020. Simon currently teaches drawing and foundation courses at the University of Central Missouri, and painting at the University of Kansas.

 

ARTIST STATEMENT

As the image of myself becomes sharper in my brain

and more precious, I feel less afraid that

someone else will erase me by denying me love.

Jenny Slate

I find myself in a cyclical practice of reluctance and reckoning. Reluctance: a space of unsureness, fracture, and friction. Reckoning: moments of commitment and connection between disparate fragments.

Inspired by trauma, memories, intersectionality, biases, and empathy, I use storytelling as an impetus for creation. Creation and selection of materials becomes an opportunity for slow contemplation on my stories. I curate materials as a means of making connections. Sharing my work, then, acts as a space for the audience to permeate voids in my work with their own stories. Through vulnerability and empathy, showing the work becomes a subtle act of rebellion against social constructs and taboo-culture that leads to othering. I repeat this process as a means of constructing and clarifying my image of self, affirming my own worthiness of attention.

As I seek a reckoning of “Andrea Shonna Simon”, I get stuck in the strange significance I project on fragments of my past.

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because my college roommate left asparagus on the counter every time she brought a new conquest home?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because my mom used to make me hot dog pizza and pizza burgers for special occasions?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because I scrubbed aqua blue carpet in my childhood living-room with bleach to surprise my mom?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because I realized my high-school sweetheart wouldn’t last when he stopped singing?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because I shallowly regret that I did not pursue a career educating the puberty-tainted minds of teenagers about math?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because I can shamelessly and horrifically recite every word to Fergaliscous and Redneck Woman?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because while my mom faced chemo, I would pet her balding head as I walked past her desk chair?

The list is endless. As I continue my obsessive self-reflection, I am choosing to celebrate fragments and the affirmation they provide.

 

Thinking of negative space as a term with two meanings: 1. Everything except the thing you’re supposed to pay your attention to and 2. An emotional space with negative associations. My practice toys with the prioritization of negative space as milestones. I use the interconnectivity of these milestones to painstakingly retool what “Andrea Shonna Simon” could possibly mean. I hope that by memorializing my fragments, I can show their importance and perhaps viewers will see the worthiness in their fragments too.

CV

EDUCATION

2020  Master of Fine Arts

Craft, Oregon College of Art and Craft facilitated through Pacific Northwest College of Art | Portland, OR

2018  Bachelor of Fine Arts 

Painting, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg, MO 

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 

2021   Lessons in Bending, NightJar Gallery | Kansas City MO

2020  Removing the Sheets, Disjecta Flex Space | Portland OR 

2017   Not Beyond Comparison, solo exhibition, Gallery 115, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

 

GROUP AND JURIED EXHIBITIONS 

2023  What We Take Forward, Beco Gallery in collaboration with Smalter Gallery | Kansas City MO 

2023  The Close Read, X Gallery | Portland OR

2023  Unlimited, Pacific Northwest College of Art | Portland OR

2023  University of Central Missouri Faculty Exhibition.,University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2023  Kansas City Flatfile and Digitalfile Invitational, H&R Block Artspace | Kansas City MO

2023  Queer Experience, InterUrban ArtHouse | Overland Park KS 

2021  University of Central Missouri Faculty Exhibition.,University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2020  ReSolve, Upfor | Portland OR

2019  Displaced, Centrum Gallery, Oregon College of Art and Craft | Portland OR

2018  Studio Art & Art Education Senior Exhibition, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2018  Kansas City Artists’ Coalition Undergraduate College Student Exhibition, Mallin and

Charno Galleries | Kansas City MO

2018   50th Annual Citation Show, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2017   September Featured Artist, Old Drum | Warrensburg MO

2017   First Friday Performance Collective, WyCo Vintage | Kansas City MO

2017   One Nite Standard, Lalaland Gallery | Fayetteville AR

 -in collaboration with Gage Bunting and Maggie Schmiegelow

2016   48th Annual Citation Show, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2016   You Watch Me, And I’ll Watch You, Closet Gallery | Warrensburg MO

 -in collaboration with Maggie Schmiegelow

2015   47th Annual Citation Show, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2015   Opposing Forces, MyARTS Gallery | Kansas City MO

2014   International Baccalaureate Visual Arts Exhibition, Stansberry Leadership Building | Lee’s Summit MO

2013   5th Annual Longview Fine Arts Challenge, Cultural Arts Center | Lee’s Summit MO 

2013   Going Places, MyARTS Gallery | Kansas City MO


 

GRANTS/AWARDS/HONORS

2019   OCAC Teach Out Scholarship recipient, $7,930, Pacific Northwest College of Art | Portland OR

2018   Commitment to Excellence Scholarship, $13,000, Oregon College of Art and Craft | Portland OR

2018   Undergraduate Research Grant recipient, $750 research grant, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2018   Richard A. Luehrman Art Scholarship for Travel and Study Abroad, $500, University of Central Missouri |

Warrensburg MO

2018  Faculty Selection, 50th Annual Citation Show, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2017   Undergraduate Research Grant recipient, $750 research grant, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2017   Student Leadership Award, Office of Student Activities, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2017   Faculty Selection, 48th Annual Citation Show, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2017   Sr. Robert G. and Sarah W. Schwartz Scholarship in Art and Design, $500 University of 

 Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2017   McNair Summer Research Intern, $2,800 research grant, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2017   McNair Scholar, Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program, University of Central Missouri |

 Warrensburg MO

2016   Faculty Selection, 48th Annual Citation Show, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2016   Red and Black Scholarship,University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2015   Honorable Mention, 47th Annual Citation Show, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2015   Red and Black Scholarship, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2014   Red and Black Scholarship, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2014   Art and Design Portfolio Scholarship, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2014   Summit Art Scholarship, Summit Art | Lee’s Summit MO

2014   Kiwanis Artist of the Year Award, Kiwanis Club | Lee’s Summit MO

 

PUBLICATIONS

2020  Oregon Artswatch, A Program Finds Its Resolution, Briana Miller | Portland OR

2017   Simon, A. and Johnson, M. Finding Strength in Vulnerability Through Self-Exploration in the Visual Arts, The

McNair Journal, University of Central Missouri, Vol XXVI

2015  The Examiner, BIG, BOLD ART, Bill Althaus | Jackson County MO

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2023 - Present      Adjunct Faculty, Department of Visual Art, University of Kansas | Lawrence KS

-Fundamentals of Painting

2021 - Present      Adjunct Faculty, Department of Art and Design, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

-Drawing I

-Drawing II

-Drawing III

-Watercolor

-Foundations I

-Foundations II

-Ideas and the Visual Arts

 

2022-Present   Art Teacher Summer Session, Blue Springs School District | Blue Springs MO

-Design Fundamentals

 

PRESENTATIONS/ INVITED GUEST

2024   Juror, Still Life, Columbia Art League | Columbia MO

2023   Visiting Artist Lecture, Kleppe Visiting Artist Lecture Series, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2019   Guest Critic, Advanced Painting taught by Michelle Ross, Oregon College of Art and Craft | Portland OR

2018   Scholars Symposium and Creative Achievement Day, Provost Panel, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2017   Guest Lecture, Art, Academic Research and McNair, Color and Design taught by Marco Rossichelli, University of

 Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2017   Artist Talk, Gallery 115, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg MO

2016   Scholars Symposium and Creative Achievement Day, University of Central Missouri | Warrensburg, MO

 

 COMMISSIONS

2021    Watercolor Double Portrait, Commissioned by Sophie Lamar  | Kansas City MO

2020   Oil Foliage Still Life, Commissioned by Lauren Mallard | Sedalia MO

2020   Watercolor Double Portrait, Commissioned by Samuel Eames | Lees Summit MO

2018   Earrings, Commissioned by Reagan Chrisman | Blue Springs MO

2017   Acrylic Painting, Commissioned by Gretchen Morris | Warrensburg MO

2015   Acrylic Painting, Commissioned by Morgan Schomburg | Warrensburg MO

2014   Acrylic Portrait, Commissioned by Samantha Setzer | Warrensburg MO

2014   Acrylic Double Portrait, Commissioned by Lindsay Edwards | Sedalia MO

2014   Still Life Painting, Commissioned by Sara Witteman | Lees Summit MO

2013   Landscape Acrylic Painting, Commissioned by Angela Gravino | Kansas City MO

2013   Acrylic Painting, Commissioned by Greta Johnston | Topeka KS

 

EMPLOYMENT/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

2020   Pedagogy Independent Study, Karl Burkheimer, Pacific Northwest College of Art | Portland OR

2016-2018   Designer, Deem Dead Apparel | Warrensburg MO

2016-2018   Designer, Kerley Copy Center | Warrensburg MO

2013-2016   Artist, MyArtsKC- Independence | MO

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