Presented by Arts Center Killingworth’s Spectrum Art Gallery and Artisan Store

Arena Shawn was a science major and obtained a Ph.D. in Physics in 2008 from Purdue University. However, alongside science she has always had a passion for art. After coming to United States for graduate school, Arena took the opportunity to attend many art classes and painting workshops around the country with nationally renowned instructors. Eventually, her calling to art has led her to leave her engineering job in Silicon Valley, and begin a study of classical drawing and painting methods following the 19th-century French academic lineage in the Golden Gate Atelier in Oakland, CA. It is there that she studied traditional life drawing, painting, and sculpture with great emphasis on in-depth study and classical techniques and the joy of working in a direct observational style in nature. Primarily working in oil now, Arena has started her art journey in watercolor, exhibiting in many national juried exhibitions and earning signature memberships in many watercolor societies. Shawn’s artwork is currently exhibited at Spectrum Gallery in Centerbrook, Connecticut.