About
Shana James is an award-winning West Australian printmaker and artist with a life-long interest in visual storytelling and over 30 years’ experience making and exhibiting. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Art in 1989 at Curtin University and a Master of Arts in Visual Art at Edith Cowan University in 2021.
Shana is fascinated by classical fairy tales, mythology, poetry, dreams and the natural world. Her artwork represents humans and animals alive and active in unexpected, fantastic surroundings, presenting a poetic interpretation of contemporary life — the mundane juxtaposed with the meaningful, reminding us of the mystery and wonder present in even the most ordinary life.
Recent bodies of work draw on Alice in Wonderland and the figure of Circe to explore self-actualisation and the human condition — falling down the rabbit hole into transformation, and the and the mythological goddess who reclaims her own power. Across these narratives, Shana returns to the same enduring question: how myth and story give shape to the process of becoming ourselves.
Shana has artwork in the collections of Kerry Stokes, ArtBank, Monash University, Western Australian Department of the Arts, The WA Water Corporation.
She has had eleven solo exhibitions and has been commissioned for numerous works including making a series of linocuts for wine labels. She is available for commissions and for site-specific works for your residence or business. Including murals or artwork for labels and branding.
Essays
Click here to read Interplay Catalogue Essays by Professor Ted Snell
Click here to read Understanding Alice Catalogue Essay by Dr Ric Spencer
Click here to read the Down the Rabbit Hole Catalogue Essay which has more about Shana’s connection with Alice in Wonderland
Teaching
Shana is also well-known as an excellent teacher with a gift for developing the talents of her students. She teaches printmaking at Curtin University’s renowned fine art program, as well as at North Metropolitan Tafe. Shana runs multi-day, Creative Breaks in Bali, every January, in addition to special workshops from time to time in other locations around Western Australia.
When she is not teaching Shana works in her home studio near Fremantle.
Sales
Buy etchings and linocuts on the Art Sales page. Shana is represented in Perth by STALA CONTEMPORARY see her larger works here.