The short version of my bio could just read:
"Shannon Gerard. Dork, Dreamer, Discerning Bibliophile."
But here's the longer story:
My work spans a variety of media. I write and draw books, crochet (a lot), make prints, and produce large-scale installations incorporating stop-motion animation and wheat paste. As a professional mischief maker, my work with public/pedagogical projects such as The Carl Wagan Bookmobile and Mountain School Bookhouse emphasizes the materials and ethos of independent publishing as social-political engagements. I am a principal collaborator at The Book Bakery (Publication Studio Toronto) and an Assistant Professor in Publications and Print Media at OCAD University.
Most of my work employs play to investigate interests such as:
> The mindset of the collector.
> The sculptural and performative possibilities suggested by books and book-objects.
> The conceptual space that books occupy beyond the presentation of texts and images.
> How the social position of works (in other words, where we tend to encounter particular modes of art) mediates how we become engaged as readers/viewers.