The Art of
Shawna Munro MFA

Shawna Munro is a multimedia craft artist and instructor currently living in Windsor, ON. She received her Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Windsor and her Master of Fine Art from the University of Manitoba. Her work focuses on her relationships with family and friends, specifically her mother. She also explores themes involving romance novels, sexuality, and subversion of traditional craft practices.

↑ Reduction (Self-Portrait)

Cross-stitching on Aida cloth, 34x23 - 2015 - 2017

A large-scale cross-stitch self-portrait done in pixelation/cubist style. Following the Attenuation series, I wanted to strip down the image even further using a popular style found in painting and photography.

This project was funded by the Winnipeg Arts Council.
↑ Attenuation

Cross-stitching on Aida cloth, 18x21 - 2013 - 2015

Six piece portrait series in which I explore the question: how much do I really know my friends and family? I had various family and friends have their passport photos taken and turned the images into cross-stitch patterns. I created a questionnaire of 100 questions and attempted to answer them about that person, questions like – where were you born? What is your favourite food? What is the worst thing that ever happened to you? They then marked the questionnaire and whatever I failed to answer correctly is then left out of the final portrait by eliminating a percentage of the stitches. Each piece is titled as a percent out of 100: 92%, 87%, 77%, 70%, 52%, and 47%.

↑ Attenuation (Continued)

I wanted to explore concepts like mapping, gridding, and redaction. In order to understand the people in these portraits, I had to break down their image. This kind of philosophically deconstructive strategy is interesting – that in order to understand something, you must first destroy it. I also wanted to explore craft in the digital age. Cross-stitching is interesting because its grid pattern is reminiscent of pixelation. I wanted to engage an old craft with new technology and weave them together to create a picture of a person using, quite literally, everything I know about them.

This project was funded by the Manitoba Arts Council.
↑ Samplers

Cross-stitching on Aida cloth - 2011

One or two words typically found in romance novels cross-stitched using traditional-like patterns, imagery, and typeface.
↑ You Look Just Like Your Mother!

Cross-stitching on Aida cloth - 2012

Everyone has a doppelganger in his or her family – someone who looks just like someone else. In my family, that is my mother and myself. In order to explore this phenomenon, I took an image of my mother and one of myself and cross-stitched them. I exaggerated the colours and pixilated the image to strip away what made us similar. As you look closer, the image begins to fall apart.
↑ Red Letter Cape

Hand-sewn text on cloth - 2009

I continued my examination of romance novels by removing suggestive words. I took clear thread and hand-sewed each word to a white cape I made. The cape, which incidentally looks a lot like an apron, is meant to be a symbol of power for women by stripping away the additional text and allowing the true nature of the novels to be revealed.
↑ Heart Punch (The Stolen Bride)

Deconstructed paperback book, Mason jar, embroidery - 2011

An entire paperback romance novel deconstructed with a heart-shaped scrapbooking hole punch, the remains of which are placed in a Mason jar.
↑ Twilight Illusions

Books, sculpture, installation - 2010

I took 2 copies of the same romance novel - in one, I covered every line of male dialogue in silver rhinestones. In the other, I did the same with the female dialogue and gold rhinestones. They sit beside each other and viewers are allowed to touch the book and turn the pages wearing elegant, elbow-length white gloves.
↑ Clutch (Paradise Redeemed)

Pearl-head pins, paperback book, white gloves - 2011

A romance novel in which hundreds of pearl-head pins have been hammered into the front, back, and spine of the book, causing it to be sealed shut and creating a fetish object.
↑ Colour Me Impressed

Latex house paint, paperback books - 2012

A series of 8 romance novels in which every single page has been meticulously painted with its namesake, covering the entire book. For example, the book Rapture is painted with the colour Rapture, the book Siren Song is painted with the colour Siren Song, and so on. The viewer is able to turn the pages, but the words have been obliterated by colour.