11/3/2023 | Angela Whitlock, CSRA

~*FEATURED VENDORS: Shannon Percoco and Lynn Hawkinson Smith*~

During the month of November, the Museum Store wanted to acknowledge and give THANKS to the local artists and authors that allow us to support them.

This week, we are featuring two artists from Champaign County: Shannnon Percoco and Lynn Hawkinson Smith.

Shannon Percoco is a high school art instructor and Adjunct Lecturer of Art Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She obtained her BFA in Painting and MA in Art Education at the University of Illinois. She has been painting for over 25 years and currently shows her work at a restaurant in Chicago, Caro Mio, as well as local venues throughout Champaign. Her work has also previously been shown at Museum of the Grand Prairie. Her mediums of choice include watercolor and acrylic paint on canvas.

Artist’s Statement: “My paintings are whimsical and melancholic explorations of color and composition, often through nature. The paint allows me to continue my exploration of color and texture, searching for new relationships between paint, layering as a sort of collage. Adding to this, I bring to the paper several years of exploration and discovery centered on stimulating color and the evocation of emotion. Painting, for me, is a means to communicate shared thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Ideally, my work functions as a way of dealing with this awesome, sometimes horrific, yet mostly pleasing life.”

The Museum Store features Shannon’s amazing acrylic and watercolor paintings in the form of notecards. These notecards highlight the beauty of nature that is all around us.

Lynn Hawkinson Smith of Smithhouse is also a lover of the natural beauty that surrounds us. Living in the woods with her spouse, many pets, and lots of other wildlife has given Lynn the natural inspiration needed to create detailed and meticulous mixed media drawings depicting various birds. Lynn is a lifelong artist and has worked as a graphic designer for her entire career. In 1995, while working at the University of Illinois, she became the designer for the environmental magazine The Illinois Steward, which allowed er to realize that the purpose of her art was to share her love of nature with others.

Lynn’s work has been shown in exhibits at Museum of the Grand Prairie, Clark-Lindsey Gallery, Broken Oak Gallery, Anita Purves Nature Center, and Champaign County History Museum, among others. She also sells her artwork across the United States and as far away as Australia.

Artist’s Statement: “Through my work, I hope I can move more people to love and to care for nature.”

The Museum Store features Lynn Hawkinson Smith’s gorgeously detailed drawings on cards. These cards focus on highlighting the details within birds that you do not typically see unless very close up.

THANK YOU to both Shannon Percoco and Lynn Hawkinson Smith for allowing us to showcase your incredible artwork in previous exhibits at the Museum, and to sell your cards in our Museum Store.