PRESS
For press enquiries, interview requests, and image assets, please contact clarissashanahan@me.com — I aim to respond within two working days.
CURRENT STORIES
Three angles are available depending on your publication and audience. Press kit, Press releases, additional images, and interview availability are all available on request.
THE TV STORY
East Sussex figurative painter Clarissa Shanahan appears in Heat 4 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, Autumn 2026 - selected from thousands of applicants nationwide to paint live on national television.
THE GOLDEN BONES STORY
A fractured shoulder, a vision of gold moving through the broken bone, and a series of mythological paintings that reverse the stories Western art forgot to tell — Shanahan's Golden Bones series builds a new mythology of figures who have come through.
THE JANUS PORTRAITS STORY
Shanahan offers bespoke allegorical portrait commissions for people at significant personal transitions - divorce, survival, identity claimed, a life changed - painted in oils and gold leaf, with a symbolic visual language developed uniquely for each client.
SKY ARTS PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Clarissa Shanahan appears in Heat 4, Autumn 2026. Press release available on request. Please contact clarissashanahan@me.com.
SPEAKING AND APPEARANCES
Clarissa is available for interview, studio visits, podcast appearances, and speaking engagements on topics including figurative painting, symbolism and mythology in contemporary art, kintsugi philosophy, and the creative life. Please get in touch to discuss.
VAWAA Follow the Rabbit Event Video
Panelist and New Artist, Event in NYC on July 18, 2018
Morning Feed Radio Interview
R & F Paints Artist of the Month
Interview, February 2012
Q&A WITH CLARISSA SHANAHAN & GALLERY DIRECTOR LAURA MORIARTY
LM: Could you tell us a little about your background?
CS: Well, my background has been in the decorative arts - I began my career by studying at all the studios that I could find in NY.
I got a scholarship to study at the Isabel O'Neal Studio for the Art of the Painted Finish, where I also student taught gilding and gold leaf [another love of mine]. It was there that I really found a love of materials and learned that the more you understand your materials, the more freedom you have....Read more.
Interview, March 2011
Encaustic painting, simply put, is painting with tinted beeswax. But it’s much more than that. An initial image is created, and then the wax is applied layer after layer, obscuring some parts of the picture, letting other parts stand out, ultimately creating a sense of depth and distance.
Clarissa worked on more than 20 movie and television productions, including “The Horse Whisperer,” “Meet Joe Black,” “Angels in America,” “Summer of Sam,” “Pollock” and “Boardwalk Empire.”