BIOGRAPHY
Shanna Compton is a printmaker and poet in Blue Hill, ME, working in linocut, woodcut, collage, monotype, screen print, and mixed media. Since relocating to midcoast Maine in 2021, she has cultivated a more immersive personal studio practice, finding new inspiration and subjects in Maine’s abundant natural beauty, native plants and wildlife, and its characteristic coastal views and towns. Memberships include the Union of Maine Visual Artists, the Deer Isle Artists Association, and Kennedy Press at Waterfall Arts in Belfast.
Shanna is also the author of five books of poems, most recently Creature Sounds Fade, published by Black Lawrence Press. She has worked with dozens of independent publishers as a designer, cover artist, lettering artist, and illustrator, and creates handmade books with linocut covers for her own small press, Bloof Books. Since 2016, she has been the in-house designer for Black Square Editions, directed by the poet and art critic John Yau.
EXHIBITIONS, EXCHANGES, INSTALLATIONS
• Holiday 2024, group show, DIAA Gallery, Deer Isle, Maine, December 13–15, 20–21, 2024
• The Art of the Chapbook: Gallery Talk & Exhibition, Belfast Poetry Festival, Belfast, Maine, October 16, 2024
• Small Works, group show, DIAA Gallery, Deer Isle, Maine, September 3–15, 2024
• Mountain Love, group show, Britton Gallery, Blue Hill Public Library, August 5–30, 2024
• 12 x 12, group show, DIAA Gallery, Deer Isle, Maine, July 23–28, 2024
• Unfolding Horizons, group show, DIAA Gallery, Deer Isle, Maine, July 9–21, 2024
• Life Is a Carnival, group show, Waldo Theatre, Waldoboro, Maine, July 6–28, 2024
• Drawn to Maine: Contemporary Drawing & Printmaking, juried group exhibit, Maine Art Gallery, Wiscasset, Maine, June 13–July 21, 2024
• Flora & Fauna, Group Printmaking Show & International Exchange, curated by Sally Caston. Houghton, South Australia, 2023
• Community Mural, Group Installation, Blue Hill Co-Op, Blue Hill, Maine, 2022
• Relief Conspiracy, International Printmaking Exchange, organized by Scott Minzy, Pittston, Maine, 2022
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
• midnight minutes, Víctor Rodríguez Núñez, trans. by Katherine M. Hedeen (Action Books, 2024). Cover artist.
• Snow, Laura Glenum (Action Books, 2024). Interior illustrator.
• Zakwato & Loglêdou’s Peril, Azo Vauguy, trans. by Todd Fredson (Action Books, 2023). Cover artist.
• The Prelude, Marty Cain (Action Books, 2023). Cover artist.
• If This Should Reach You in Time, Justin Marks (Barrelhouse Books, 2022). Cover artist.
• The Year of the Buttered Cat, Susan Haas with Lexi Haas (Penny Candy Books, 2021). Cover artist and illustrator.
• Whatever Love Means, Christine No (Barrelhouse Books, 2021). Cover artist.
• Some of the Times, Gina Myers (Barrelhouse Books, 2020). Cover artist.
• That's What You Get, Sheila Maldonado (Brooklyn Arts Press, 2020). Cover artist.
• Cloud Hopper, Beth Kephart (Penny Candy Books, 2020). Cover artist.
• The Cloud Lasso, Stephanie Ellis Schlaifer (Penny Candy Books, 2019). Cover lettering artist.
• The Evasion-English Dictionary, Maggie Balistreri (Em Dash Group, 2018). Cover artist.
• Whatever Stasis, Chris Tonelli (Barrelhouse Books, 2017). Cover artist.
• Year 14, Michael Konik (Barrelhouse Books, 2017). Cover artist.
EDUCATION
•BA, The University of Texas (Austin, TX)
•MFA, The New School (New York, NY, 2002)
•Letterpress I & II, The Center for Book Arts (New York, NY, 2006)
•Relief Printmaking, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (Deer Isle, ME, 2023)
COPYRIGHT
All artwork ©2023 Shanna Compton. For commissions, licensing inquiries, or other permissions, please get in touch via the contact form.