Shannon Reinbold-Gee
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Shannon grew up in Pennsylvania’s quiet Oley Valley.
It was as she attended church as a child at Salem UCC in
Spangsville that Shannon was first introduced to the art
of scherenschnitte. One Sunday the church’s children were
taken downstairs from the sanctuary and shown how to draw
and copy basic (and traditional) Pennsylvania Dutch patterns.
Then they were shown how to cut them out and paste them down.
Shannon’s first papercutting was of mirror-image unicorns
and is still in her parent’s 1854 farmhouse. |
Shannon’s love of art never waned, but she soon forgot about
papercutting and investigated the forms of art being more readily
taught at the local school. Shannon’s love of writing grew and
led to her first being published while still in the 8th grade.
It was the blending of these two creative outlets that evolved
into Shannon’s appreciation of sequential art and that then led
Shannon to explore the world of independent comic books. |
Bumblebees
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Child Reading Book
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Looking for a unique style for comic book covers, Shannon did
her first large papercuttings and received great attention and
support for her work when it debuted in 2000 at the
Small Press Expo
in Bethesda. Shannon did custom cuttings at the Expo, donated
work to the CBLDF auction and had many people suggest she try
illustrating an entire comic or book with cuttings. |
In February 2001 Shannon displayed and sold her art at the
Bay Area Renaissance Faire
outside St.Petersburg in Florida. There she received rave reviews
from patrons as she did daily demonstrations in Renaissance costume
and dialect. |
We Can Be Booked
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Mother with Child
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She attended MegaCon in
Orlando that year and the next, the Small Press Expo being cancelled
due to its proximity to the events of September 11, 2001. |
In 2002 she reintroduced her work to an appreciative crowd at the Expo.
Several well-versed attendees even mentioned seeing a similarity in style
between Shannon’s work and that of author and artist
David Wisniewski
Flattered by such comparisons, Shannon was determined to learn even more
from his remarkable books. |
Dragon Book
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Cliff Cut Silhouette
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A move back north after a fabulous five years teaching in Florida brought
Shannon back into the heart of Pennsylvania’s papercutting region.
Discovering the Guild of American Papercutters’
existence, Shannon joined up, eager to learn more. She has since been flattered
by the opportunity to contribute articles and artwork to the
Guild’s “First Cut” Magazine. |
In 2003 Shannon returned to the Expo with the debut of her papercut
interpretation of “The Three Ravens,” a traditional ballad from the
British Isles. It was very well-received and people pushed for Shannon
to continue in sequential art and try her hand at children’s books.
A great fan of blending literature with art, Shannon has continued down
that path. |
Shannon was reintroduced to the
Pennsic Wars
(a huge SCA event ) in 2003 and camped out in historical costume for 2 weeks,
demonstrating and selling her art between a working forge and haberdashery tent. |
She attended the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire
in 2003 and built a Lighthouse to showcase her art there in 2004. |
Shannon has also attended DragonCon
in Atlanta, PhilCon in Philadephia,
and OASIS in Orlando. She also greatly
enjoys her participation at the
Fairie Festival in Glen Rock, PA. |
She began doing “Paper Portraits” (full color layered pieces based
strongly on photographs) at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire in 2005.
Her “Autumnal Lady” and “Treasure” received much appreciation and created
curiosity about her methods. |
It was also in 2005, for the Faire’s anniversary celebration, that
Shannon began doing her interpretation of European-style silhouettes
of costumed characters and friends. Shannon also began creating more
dimensional works in 2005 like “Wind and Willow,” “The Greenman,”
and revisiting her integration of fabrics in her art (as can be seen
in “Penina Confronts Destiny,” “Celtic Knot Tree: Autumn,” and “Firebird”). |
In the winter of 2005 Shannon introduced her line of “Paper Pins”
which incorporate a technique somewhere between Russian lacquer ware
and decoupage. Shannon’s designs will be decorating some of the fabulous
handmade bows at www.bowstick.com , adorning cedar boxes, and debuting
in a children’s book entitled “True Tam Lin” in 2007. |
Shannon’s art is greatly influenced by myth, legend and history. Her
art continues to be a happy learning experience.
Shannon readily admits her art is still growing and changing in many
ways. Shannon’s website
www.RazorsEdgeCreations.com
has updates, show listings, examples of her work and will begin featuring
tutorials and pattern books in PDF in May. |
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shannon reinbold-gee biography
