Statement
My work reflects a peculiar interest in the consciousness of living things - the point where corporeal and ethereal meet, what makes something “alive”. I am captivated by the cellular mechanics of organisms, the movement and awareness of plants and animals, and the intrinsic unspeakable drive that artists have to create. These fuel my studio practice.
When sculpting, I prefer to use my hands either directly on the material or with the simplest of tools, primitive and slow. There is a meditative state that occurs when decisions are made unconsciously, as if the work itself is eager to be birthed. I am particularly drawn to the concept of biomorphism, which refers to the representation of living forms in art. By expanding the definition of “living” to otherworldliness, alternate realities, and spiritual realms, my sculptures are both familiar and strange. They seem to breathe and move with a life of their own.
Biography
Known for her colorful and biomorphic imagery, Shana Kohnstamm creates fantastical worlds and alien lifeforms that incite whimsy and wariness, intrigue and hesitation. Whether a sculpture that invites you to touch, or a painting that begs you to look closer, Shana’s work is uniquely engaging.
Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Shana Kohnstamm is now living and working in Rockville, Maryland. Shana was selected for the DC Arts Center’s 2019-2020 Sparkplug Artist Collective, and the Arteles March 2020 Silence Awareness Existence Artist Residency in Finland. She is a member of the Washington Sculptors Group, American Craft Council, and the James Renwick Alliance.
Shana’s felted sculptures have been featured nationally and internationally in person, in print ,and online. Her artworks garnered Merit awards at the 2013 Nexus Sculpture Exhibit (Knoxville, TN) and the 2014 Fine Contemporary Craft of the Southeastern US exhibit (Raleigh, NC.) Both paintings and sculptures were selected for the 2015 Mobile Museum of Art (Mobile, AL) Size Matters exhibit. In October 2015, Shana curated and hosted the critically acclaimed international soft sculpture exhibit Touched in Nashville, Tennessee. Since then, she has been regularly invited to teach Sculptural Felting at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and was the first visiting artist at St. Albans Upper School art department in 2019. In 2020, her solo exhibition Woolgathering at the Strathmore Mansion (Bethesda, MD.) showcased work from 10 years of felt-making.
Since 2021, Shana has been engrossed in translating her biomorphic forms from fiber to ceramics and mixed media sculpture.
Shana Kohnstamm - CV
B. 1970, Nashville TN
Solo Exhibitions
2020 Woolgathering - Strathmore Mansion, Bethesda MD
2015 Cretazoa - Flying Solo, Arts at the Airport - Nashville International Airport
2014 The Wool Sculptures of Shana Kohnstamm - Green Hills Library, Nashville TN
2012 Surface Treat - Nashville’s Smallest Art Gallery, Nashville TN
2011 The Vast Within - Red Line Gallery, Knoxville TN
2009 Growing Season - Twist Art Gallery, Nashville TN
Growing Season - Janet Levine March Gallery, Nashville TN
2008 Faces & Figments - Nashville Jazz Workshop, Nashville TN
2007 Shana Kohnstamm - (fov) Studio, Nashville TN
2005 Fleshing it Out - Plowhaus Gallery, Nashville TN
2002 Selections from the Passion Series - Janet Levine March Gallery, Nashville TN
Selected Group Exhibitions *Moved online due to COVID-19
2023 HEATWORK 3.0 - VisArts, Rockville MD
Washington Project for the Arts Collectors’ Night 2023 - Washington DC
2022 Hand Crafted - Black Rock Center for the Arts, Germantown MD
Hickok Cole Art Night 2022 - Hickok Cole benefit for WPA, Washington DC
James Renwick Alliance 15th Annual Craft Artist Exhibition and Sale - Chevy Chase MD
2021 Whimsy - two-person show with Heather Harvey - Gallery 115, Frederick MD
*Garden Party - Latela Curatorial, Washington DC
2020 States of Being - Sparkplug Collective - DC Arts Center, Washington DC
*High Frequency - Washington Project for the Arts, Washington DC
SHE: an expression of womanhood - Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Solomons MD
*By The People/Monochrome Collective Virtual Art Fair - Washington DC
*Latela Curatorial COVID Art Fair - Washington, DC
*Instructor’s Exhibit - Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg TN
Totems - Beacon Gallery, Boston MA
2019 James Renwick Alliance 12th Annual Craft Artist Exhibition and Sale - Chevy Chase MD
Boundless - Betty Mae Kramer Gallery, Silver Spring MD
2nd Tri-annual Maryland State Artist Registry Juried Exhibition - Maryland Art Place, Baltimore MD
Light Liminal - Sparkplug Collective. DC Arts Center, Washington DC
Creative Crafts Council 32nd Biennial Exhibition - Strathmore Mansion, Bethesda MD
2018 A Shaman Knew Ms. Storm - two-person show with Doris Wasserman - USN Tibbott Center Gallery, Nashville TN
Instructor’s Exhibit - Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg TN
2017 Tennessee Craft Midstate Chapter exhibit - Gordon Jewish Community Center, Nashville TN
2016 Best of Tennessee Craft 2016 - Reese Museum, ETSU, Johnson City TN
Instructor's Exhibit - Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg TN
2015 Size Matters - Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile AL
Touched: a soft sculpture exhibit - Ground Floor Gallery + Studios, Nashville TN - Curator
Bricolage - Ground Floor Gallery + Studios, Nashville TN
Number Inc. Presents Art of the South - Hyde Gallery at Memphis College of Art, Memphis TN
2014 Fine Contemporary Craft of the Southeastern US - Artspace, Raleigh NC
Courage Unmasked - OZ Nashville & Sarratt Gallery at Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN
Dubious Expedition - Leanna Lin’s Wonderland Gallery, Los Angeles CA
Figuratively Speaking - Rymer Gallery, Nashville TN
Nexus Sculpture Exhibit - Dogwood Arts Festival, UT Downtown Gallery, Knoxville TN
2013 Creative Connectivity - CVTACA, Renaissance Center, Dickson TN
YOUnite Tour - Viridian, Nashville TN
L’innamorato - Potter’s Wife Gallery, Fort Wayne IN
Artist Directory Showcase: Works in 3D - Metro Arts Commission, Nashville TN
Nexus Sculpture Exhibit - Dogwood Arts Festival, UT Downtown Gallery, Knoxville TN
From the Ground Up - Ground Floor Gallery, Nashville TN
2010 Nashville Artist Guild 60th Anniversary Show - Nashville TN
2009 Emergence Studio Series - Nashville Ballet, Nashville TN
2008 Ship of Fools Ship of Hope - Yarra Sculpture Gallery, Melbourne Australia
Active Ingredient - Untitled Artist Group - Limelight, Nashville TN
Connect 12 Artist Collective - Downtown Presbyterian Church, Nashville TN
2007 Connect 12 Artist Collective - Dangenart Gallery, Nashville TN
GimmeShelter benefit show - national traveling exhibition
2006 The Model Artist - Studio Sobro, Nashville TN | Curator
Bloom - Untitled Artist Group - Crystalwood Gallery, Nashville TN
Full Circle Art Group - Streets, Nashville TN
11th Annual Glow Show - Untitled Artist Group, Nashville TN
Gambit 4 - Twist Art Gallery, Nashville TN
Sugar & Spice - Twist Art Gallery, Nashville TN
Bowling Green International Art Festival - Bowling Green KY
2005 Newhaus - Plowhaus Artist Coop, Nashville TN
Nashville Women Artists - Leu Gallery, Belmont University, Nashville TN
Esteemed Colleagues - Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Nashville TN
Gambit: second base - Studio Sobro, Nashville TN
2004 Heart 2 Heart - Plowhaus Artist Coop, Nashville TN
The Art of Collaboration - Untitled Artist Group, Pub of Love Ballroom, Nashville TN | Curator
Naughty or Nice - Plowhaus Artist Coop, Nashville TN
2003 Elements - Untitled Artist Group, Essence Room, Nashville TN
Group of 4 - Striped Door Gallery, Nashville TN
Blue - Untitled Artist Group, Alan LeQuire Gallery, Nashville TN | Curator
Professional Affiliations
• Montgomery Potters
• James Renwick Alliance
• American Craft Council
• Washington Sculptors Group
Honors/Awards
• 2020 Arteles Creative Center - SAE Artist Residency, Hameenkyro Finland
• 2019-2020 Sparkplug Collective - DC Arts Center Residency
• 2015 Arts & Business Council of Nashville - Periscope Artist Entrepreneur Training Program
• 2014 Award of Merit – Fine Contemporary Craft of the Southeastern US
• 2013 Merit Award – Nexus 2013 Sculpture Exhibit
• 2012 Creative Capital – Professional Development Program
• 2009 Untitled Artist Group - Special Opportunity Funding Grant
• 2003 Sensored Magazine - Starving Artist Award -1st place Painting
• 1988 Tennessee Art League - Scholarship Award
Publications
Washington Post: In the Galleries - Mark Jenkins, January 2021
Shana Kohnstamm: Where Craft Meets Fine Arts - Eric Celarier for Washington Sculptors Group, Fall 2020
Washington Post: In the Galleries - Mark Jenkins, March 2019
Worldwide Colours of Felt - Textiel-Art (Germany), 2016
Sharply Soft: "Touched" at Ground Floor Gallery in Nashville - Joe Nolan for Burnaway, November 2015
Fiber Artists Show Their Stuff in Soft Sculpture Exhibition - Erica Ciccarone for Nashville Arts Magazine, October 2015
In Their Own Words – Shana Kohnstamm for Fiber Art Now Magazine, Fall 2015
An Interview with Shana Kohnstamm – Annalisa Chelli for Dyeing House Gallery (Italy), May 2015
Interview: Shana Kohnstamm – Erica Ciccarone for NYCNash.com, April 2015
Shana Kohnstamm and Carrie Alter at Rymer - Joe Nolan for ArtsNash.com, May 2014
Needle Felting: From Factory to Gallery - Kate Barsotti for textileartist.org, December 2013
Felter Skelter: Shana Kohnstamm - Zoe Williams for mxstich.com
Artists From Near and Far Herald a New Season with ‘Nexus 2013'. Metropulse, 2013
April 2013 Growth and Renewal - Elena Rosenberg for Fiber Art Now magazine, Spring 2013
From the Ground Up - Curator’s Statement - Elizabeth Schlatter for Ground Floor Gallery. January 2013
Change to fibers makes Kohnstamm’s art tangible - MiChele Jones for The Tennessean, September 2012
Artsy Shark - Featured Artist, artsyshark.com, October 2012
Selected Teaching Experience
2016 - Unlocking the Wool: Sculptural Felting, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
2017 - Painting with Wool, Art & Soul, Nashville TN
2017 - 3D Needlefelting Basics, Art & Soul, Nashville TN
2018 - Unlocking the Wool: Sculptural Felting, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
2019-2020 - St. Albans Upper School, Washington DC
2020 - Sculptural Felting, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (canceled due to COVID-19)
Continuing Education
2010 - Intro to Wet-Felting - Breanna Kincaid, Frist Center for the Visual Arts
2012 - Pods workshop - Andrea Graham, one-on-one web seminar
2012 - Paint a Wild Roving workshop - Jan Quarles, Middle TN Fiber Festival
2012 - Creative Capital Professional Development Program - Art & Business Council of Nashville
2013 - Crafting Electricity workshop - Leah Buechley, Shakerag
2014 - E-textiles workshop - Lynn Bruning, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
2014 - Surface Design Workshop - Fiona Duthie, web series
2014 - Sculpting the Hollow Form - Lisa Klakulak, Strongfelt Studio
2015 - Periscope Artist Entrepreneur Training Program - Arts & Business Council of Nashville
2017 - Fiber Sculpture - Tanya Aguiniga, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
2020 - Artist Being & Business - Latela Curatorial
2021- 2022 Ongoing ceramics classes - VisArts