David Shannon-Lier: Of Heaven and Earth

David Shannon-Lier: Of Heaven and Earth

In his ongoing series, Of Heaven and Earth, artist David Shannon-Lier produces large-scale photographs that consider the landscape on both a human and cosmic scale. Building site-specific installations in the landscape, Shannon-Lier intervenes with the terrain in front of his camera to create visual interactions—revealed through long-exposure photographs—between the earth and the celestial bodies above it.

In preparation for each meticulously crafted image, the artist uses a surveyor’s transit to accurately determine the arc of the approaching sun or moon. He then stacks rocks, manipulates branches, and uses other found materials to make marks that will interact with or extend the arc of the chosen astronomical object. Photographed with a large format film camera and using exposure times often in excess of five hours, Shannon-Lier’s temporary installations come to life, producing images that are both poignant and thought-provoking.  

David Shannon-Lier is a Montana-based artist and educator. Originally from Massachusetts, Shannon-Lier earned his BFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston. He received his MFA from Arizona State University. His work has been the subject of solo and group exhibitions at venues including the Essex Art Center in Lawrence, MA; the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; The Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, MA; the Corn Center for the Visual Arts in Columbus, GA, and the Phoenix Art Museum. Shannon-Lier has been the recipient of several awards and fellowships including the Stephen D. Payne Scholarship and the Anderson Ranch Brooks Fellowship. His work has been featured by publications including Fraction Magazine, Aint-Bad Magazine, Lensculture, and Der Greif, among others. Shannon-Lier is based in Livingston, Montana, and is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Montana State University. 

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