BIO

Born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, Shawn Etheridge has been painting and creating art for over 25 years. He began his love of the arts singing, writing poetry, and trying to outdraw his nephew when they were children. Starting out using markers and colored pencil, he was introduced to painting with acrylics on canvas by his 8th grade art teacher. It was also around this time that he was introduced to graffiti writing by a childhood friend, which had a profound impact on his style by creating a love of color and the preference of markers over brushes. Attending North Carolina Central University from 1987 to graduation in 1993, he majored in Public Administration but cultivated his skills as an artist as a part-time art student, finding a “second home” in the Fine Arts department.

His artwork has been displayed in numerous establishments in Durham, Raleigh, and other parts of North Carolina, including the HAYTI HERITAGE CENTER in Durham & DUKE University's art museum. Numerous individuals, businesses, and church organizations have also commissioned him. Shawn was also a frequently featured visual artist at both the Express-o-Self Coffee House and the Poetic Soul Lounge, both progressive open mic poetry venues in Durham in the mid 1990's.

While having worked in varied mediums including pencil, colored pencil, charcoal, marker, oil pastel, acrylics, clay (hand building and throwing), wood sculpture and plaster sculpture/casting, his current mediums of choice are oil pastel and opaque paint markers. What Shawn considers his first real collection, named “the Rebirth of Stick,” was a reinvention of the stick figure using fluid forms and broken lines. He next began to focus on the use of silhouettes, which later transitioned into creating colorfully clad, faceless figures where he would incorporate facial expressions into the clothing of the subject to accent the mood of the piece. During this period Shawn was mostly impressed by and focused on the female form. His recent work has consisted primarily of portraits of various famous African American musicians, entertainers, and political figures. Shawn is married to his wife Shanika and they have two children, Tyler and Triniti.