Recently, she's been working to integrate AI into her pedagogy and to partner with Ohio State Mansfield biologists and other colleagues while managing the Conard Art Gallery, alongside Professor John Thrasher.
Shannon has dedicated much of her creative research at Ohio State to cultivating lasting, positive community engagement and inclusion through the arts. Her work reflects on early photography as a tangible medium for preserving human experience and explores how digital technology continues to define the ways we create, share and consume images.
Hosting workshops
As Artist Laureate, Shannon will host a series of hands-on workshops across the state, helping community members of all ages connect with the history of photography and gain a deeper appreciation for its impact on cultural memory. Participants will be introduced to historical photographs and early photographic techniques, examining how the medium has evolved from careful, hands-on processes to today’s quick, easy-to-capture digital images. Shannon intends to engage local archivists, historians and community members, inviting them to share their own photographic materials — from family albums to regional collections — to enrich public awareness of Ohio’s rich visual history. In many of the workshops, participants will also be able to create “camera-less images” of objects unique to their surroundings using the 19th-century cyanotype process, which produces blue-toned prints through a light-sensitive chemical reaction.
By combining image-making with the study of historical works, Shannon aims to help participants connect with the history of photography and gain a deeper appreciation of its impact on cultural memory.
Shannon teaches a variety of courses, including photography, digital imaging and expanded media. Her digitally manipulated photographs have been exhibited across the United States. She recently showcased her curation of 19th-century American photographs at Ohio State’s Rare Books & Manuscripts Library and is now working on a creative project supported by a Funds for Artists grant from the Greater Columbus Arts Council that examines these historical items using digital tools.
