Shannon Stirnweis Bio
Born in Portland, Oregon in 1931, his ambitions fixed on becoming an artist while
in grade school. This interest although sometimes detoured by sports and studies
continued through high school and a year at the University of Oregon. He completed
his education with five years at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles,
winning a school scholarship and an American Institute of Graphic Design scholarship.
After graduation, he served two army years as an illustrator in Germany. This allowed
him the opportunity to visit European museums to see and study their paintings.
In New York City, he progressed from an agency sketch job through free lancing adventure
pulps, to slick magazines such as Argosy, Boy’s Life, Show, Time and Field and Stream.
He did covers for virtually all the New York paperback publishers and illustrated
over thirty children’s books. His advertising clients varied from pharmaceuticals,
industrials, movies, and stamps.
After serving two years as President of the Society of Illustrators in New York,
he followed the lead of many former illustrators and entered the field of gallery
painting in 1974. With the discipline and systematic research skills developed as
an illustrator, it served him well, when combined with his love of western subjects.