Shannon Cannings lives and works in Lubbock, Texas, where she teaches art at Texas Tech University. Cannings’ expertly painted, hyper-realistic toy guns explore the artificial nature of American consumerism, creating a visual hybrid between opposing themes of beauty and kitsch, innocence and violence, nostalgia and regret. Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Shannon Cannings works and lives in Lubbock, TX, where she is currently an Assistant Professor of Practice in Drawing at Texas Tech University. She received her BFA in Painting from Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA and her MFA in Painting from Syracuse, Syracuse, NY. Since then her work has been exhibited throughout Texas and nationally in art institutions such as: Museum of the Southwest, Midland, TX; South Plains College, Levelland, TX, University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX; Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, TX; The Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, TX; Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA), Lubbock, TX; Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas; Buddy Holly Center, Lubbock, TX; Contemporary Art Museum of Plainview, Plainview, TX; Crowley Theater Annex, Marfa, TX; Laredo Community College, Laredo, TX; Texas Tech Museum, Lubbock, TX; Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX; Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM; Art Depot, Lubbock, TX; International Cultural Center, Lubbock, TX; Llano Estacado Institute for the Performing Arts, Lubbock, TX; 2011 Texas Biennial, Austin, TX; Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY, and in cities such as Miami, Florida; Baltimore, Maryland; Providence, Rhode Island; Pittsburgh, PA; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, IL, and in several cities throughout New York. She has been a Hunting Prize Finalist four times, and in 2019 was awarded first place in CASPfest, juried by Christina Rees. Cannings work has been featured in several publications such as: Galveston County Daily News, Glasstire, Arts and Culture Texas, D Magazine, Dallas Observer, Houston Press, Bowerbird, View From my Window by book creator Barbara Duriau, New American Paintings (No. 72), and most recently in 2022, Loaded: Guns in Contemporary Art by Suzanne Ramljak, curator and art historian.