Save the Elephants by Carolyn Shattuck

Artist Bio

Carolyn Shattuck, born in Montreal, Canada, moved to the United States in 1971. Within a year, she and her husband were transferred to Okinawa, Japan for three years where she became influenced by the history and beauty of the Japanese prints. She returned to the United States and studied painting at Bard College. After graduating, she divided her time between painting and developing a unique printing method. For the past few years she has been studying the imagery of New England tombstones. The Puritan folk art of urns, angels, death’s heads and hourglasses are reinvented through narrative still lifes and landscapes. Her work combines dry point technique and the monotype. Book Arts has been the focus of a body of work combining drawing and print assemblage techniques in three-dimensional form. She studied origami in order to construct the book, Excess in Moderation and Save the Elephants. Shattuck believes her work is the freedom to extrapolate ideas and motifs from many sources in order that they can cross-pollinate and exist as a whole. She says, “ I hope to celebrate life in all its complexities while acknowledging the shadow on my left shoulder.” Carolyn exhibits her work nationally in numerous juried exhibitions including Delta National Small Prints, Parkside National Small Prints and Printwork ‘98, 2K at Barrett Art Gallery in Poughkeepsie. She has received numerous awards including the University of Texas, Purchase award, National Works on Paper and her books can be seen in numerous university Special Book Collections including The Smithsonian. She teaches Book Art workshops in New England and Florida.