Shawn’s art reflects the passage of time as an emotional experience revealed in fleeting moments and history's subtle markings. His uniquely dramatic compositions come together in striking arrangements of raw elements and moods that blur boundaries and explore deeper connections.
Shawn’s photographs, poetry and related merchandise have sold at local exhibitions in the Kansas City area and online from Australia to Italy. His work has been featured at Kansas City's Crossroads Arts District, the Westport Entertainment District and local corporate venues including Cerner, the Cordish Company, McCownGordon and the Wise Gallery at VML. He co-created, wrote and contributed photography to the commemorative vignette series Lewis & Clark: 200 Years of Heartland Heritage for broadcast television in Kansas City and his short stories have appeared in the literary journals Pearl and The Distillery: Artistic Spirits of the South.
Artistic influences include turn of the century pictorialism, the Hudson River School movement, Annie Leibovitz, Bob Dylan, Charley Harper, Hank Williams Sr. and Beethoven. Shawn is also inspired by the sterling character of his great-grandfather Chester Arthur Thompson. As a farmer, street car conductor, road overseer, deputy sheriff and township constable, he quietly carved pioneering details in old west history.