Meet Shawn McCann

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shawn McCann a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Shawn, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I think from an early age, i always knew my purpose was to create. I didn’t know at the time what that meant, i just knew that i always wanted to be an artist of some sort and loved being creative with the world around me. Over the years, that purpose and drive has definitely been solidified with the many chalk and street art festivals i run and organize. Bringing art and experiences to people and communities thru art is what i look forward to the most

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
As someone that loves the arts, i always knew i wanted to be involved in them since i was a young child. I started with many teachers along the way that encouraged my love of doodling, drawing, and being creative which led to going to college for art at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. It was there that i really dug deep into the many different facets of art and loved the interconnection that so many different mediums and techniques overlapped in different disciplines. At MCAD, i majored in fine art and illustration and knew i was ready to rock the art world. What i didn’t know was that 5-6 years into my art career i would fall in love with a whole new art form in chalk art that would lead to my full time role as an artist currently. I had success as an illustrator and loved every minute of it with the children’s books and what not, but the thrill of creating chalk art and street art within the public realm for people to watch really opened my eyes to what is possible. The only problem was there was not a whole lot of opportunities in the midwest so had to travel out of state and overseas to create. After about 5 or 6 years, i finally convinced a local city to host a chalk festival and co-founded the Chalkfest at Arbor Lakes (Now Maple Grove Chalkfest). Since that day 9 years, ago, i have now expanded that organizer role to running 11 different street art festivals throughout the us. My personal practice has also continued to grow with lots of fun projects and murals. One of my favorite was being honored by being invited to Dubai Canvas, a premier street art event in the United Arab Emirates. I am so grateful of the journey so far and looking forward to what the future has in store!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three most impactful things that i have come across and continue to pursue is persistance, patience, and growth. As an artist, it is all to easy to get in a groove and stay in the comfort zone, but i find by pushing the limits and learning new skills, it helps round out the abilities i currently have and a person tends to grow more that way. Being an artist is also lots of work and it requires so much patience and persistence to keep pushing forward. Its hard sometimes but so worth the battle to continue creating and making art for a living

How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I am always looking for ways to connect and bring art to communities, product launches, events, and overall working with clients that want to bring meaningful and interactive art into their sphere. The types of people i work with include, cities, marketing groups, associations, and business’s of all sorts. There are many ways in which art can be brought into an event or activity and i love creating and organizing those opportunities

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Shawn McCann

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