Shannon Rankin is an artist who was born in California in 1971 and currently resides and works in Rangeley, Maine. They obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine in 1997.
Rankin has held several solo exhibitions, including Fathom at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport, Maine (2011) and Disperse/Displace at Gallery Voss in Düsseldorf, Germany (2010). Their works can be found in private and public collections nationally and internationally. Their works were also featured in numerous group exhibitions such as Crux at June Fitzpatrick Gallery in Portland, Maine, Moving Maps at EPFL Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, Maps at June Fitzpatrick Gallery in Portland, Maine, and Constructed Territory at Wright State University in Ohio. Rankin’s works were published in several magazines, including Geo Graphic, Elephant, Maine Home and Design, Maine Magazine, Papercraft 2, Data Flow 2, and Perfect Paper.
Rankin is the recipient of various awards, including the 2010 Center for Maine Contemporary Art Biennial Juror’s Prize, and has been a resident artist at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha, Nebraska, and the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont.
Rankin’s works use maps as a language to explore the connections among geological and biological processes, patterns in nature, geometry, and anatomy. They create installations, collages, and sculptures that intricately cut, score, wrinkle, layer, fold, paint, and pin maps to produce revised versions that resemble the terrains they represent. Their new geographies aim to explore notions of place, perception, and experience, and invite viewers to examine their relationships with each other and the world they share.