Eion Shanks

A Dunedin School of Art (Oamaru Campus) graduate, Eion has worked as a stonemason but more recently followed an interest in acupuncture and has since trained in this field.  He believes acupuncture is creative in its own way and there are a lot of similarities to art. Eion paints on plywood with a palette knife leaving areas of the ply and the charoal outline sometimes visible.

“I find the natural surface of the woodgrain energetic and inspiring.  I also paint and draw on paper and make etchings. My paintings are essentially landscapes painted en plein air, or studio-created images from dreams about my life.  Or a combination of both.” 
His time away from painting has resulted in it taking longer for him to complete a work.  "But that could be an age thing,” Shanks, who was born in 1960, says.
Shanks describes his work as an ``internal and external view of life. They are either stolen or enticed out to show themselves from their place of hiding. They are my journey as I see it.”  [Rebecca Fox, Otago Daily Times April 2018]