About the Artist Shannon Goheen: An artist and plantswoman, Shannon developed an unshakable love for plants in early childhood.  While she has varied interests, one that she’s held onto over the years is weaving. In the past, Shannon wove mohair scarves and colonial overshot patterns on a four-harness Harrisville loom.  One winter, she felt uninspired and took a beach walk in hopes of being led to new ideas.  Looking at the black, curling eelgrass at her feet, she thought it looked a lot like fiber, so she took some home and wove her first plant tapestry.

Shannon takes a particular interest in native landscapes and the plants and animals that keep them vibrant.  She expresses her fascination with plants in her landscape designs. Her keen eye for form and beauty is always on high alert when she walks or scans the roadsides, thus bringing together naturally unrelated items into tapestries.

Her tapestries are typically framed by her husband Thom Huettner who builds creative frames and shadowboxes for her. Says Thom: “I cut and re-purpose existing frames and use well-aged wood for dimensional stability.  The assemblage of these frames from various found objects is, for me, entertaining. The process involves problem-solving to make the woven work and the frame become a singular statement. The frame becomes a layer of the artwork, not just a convenient container. What I endeavor to do in my projects is to find a narrative which engages the viewer in a way that promotes the joy of discovery.”

Every weaving project is an adventure and even a little scary because working with plants, both alive and dried, has an element of the unknown. Shannon also considers her landscape designs to be tapestries on the land.  Whether she’s weaving fibers into tapestries or placing plants in the landscape, art is always happening, inside or outside of the garden.

Shannon is thrilled to be showing her work alongside the stunning paintings created by Victoria Schuh. The two have been fast friends for years, first meeting over a garden project where they discovered that they are kindred spirits. Both feel that they channel energy and theunquenchable spirit of the natural world in their work - in their way. Contact Shannon at shannon@secondnaturegardenworks.com.

About the Artist Victoria Schuh: Art has always been a sanctuary for me. As a young child from a big chaotic family, I drew constantly from nature in the solitude of woods or fields. Decades later, it was the sculpted hills of Appalachia, Kenya’s endless skies and wild savannah, the silent splendor of Japanese gardens, and Cape Cod’s exquisite, oblique light—all have calmed my worries and elevated my spirit.

Art opens us up to possibility. On a good day I'm able to get myself out of the way and let the painting tell me what it wants to be. Color is a vehicle for spirit--healing, stirring, dramatic, endlessly elusive. Color, along with gesture, form, and line, are my collaborators. Working together, a singular presence emerges. So perhaps it would not be too much bravado to say that making art is a tiny but important and positive part of the great daily re-creation of the world.

Art is vitally needed now. In such divisive times, making/experiencing art creates focus on a deeper, more powerful reality and clarifies what’s truly important. Making art is a humbling pursuit that teaches us about ourselves, opens our eyes and changes our minds, literally. Art requires mental discipline and an honest in-the-moment response.  It is the ultimate “yes”. And connecting to the universal energy in all things, leaves no room for fear and hate. Instead, we are connected to LOVE.

E. E. Cummings says something similar about the potential for love in his poem, “Love is a Place”.

love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places

yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds

Thank you to the Brewster Ladies’ Library for this opportunity to show my work with Shannon Goheen, whose startling and elegant weavings dazzle me and whose decades-long friendship sustains me.