Shawn Nordfors

Seattle artist Shawn Nordfors is back from a month in Ghana. It's good to have him around again, I enjoy bouncing ideas back and forth with him and he's a good friend. Shawn recieved a Fulbright U.S. Student Fellow in 2002 and went to Ghana to create a body of work. Using the knowledge and skills he had, he mixed them with traditional materials and methods he discovered while he was in Ghana. He made a large body of work that wound up staying for the most part there. He ran into some local trouble, and had to clear out before getting his work shipped out. He came away though with experiences and ideas that to this day are fermenting in his work. He's continued to return to Ghana every year since, usually for a month stay, and maintains friendshops and close ties with artists and folks in Ghana. Over the past two summers he has spent many weekends sculpting at his parents old cabin property on Vashon Island, and has created some really fantastic sculptures. It's always good as an artist, to have friends and peers that inform one another, work hard off of one another on things they see, and ideas that they have. Shawn and I make work that contrasts in its design, and it's origins, but we both find common ground on our no-stop love of art and the child like ways we stay curious. He has, and does lead, a rather exciting and sometimes dangerous life, but I must say, it makes for a fantastic time listening to his stories of adventure. He and I are in similar places right now in our careers; no longer the hyped young graduates, and finding our once vaunted positions a bit shaken, we back one another and proceed forward, just like we did when we were students. I hope we both never lose that mental state of mind, just do the work, and stay curious. Glad you are home Shawn!