Biography
From 1976- to present Shona Rae has taken a multitude of classes and workshops in ceramics, theatre, dance, storytelling, puppetry, painting, fibre, vocals, and music. Influenced by a group of artists outside of Vancouver that became the movers and the shakers in the Canadian punk rock scene, she has dedicated her life to the practice of art and music.
Ms. Rae was a professional clay sculptor before a series of dreams led her to begin studying goldsmithing and the metal arts in 1994. She received her Diploma in applied art and design from the Kootenay School of the Arts Cooperative in 1998 and her BFA with distinction in the year 2000 from the Alberta College of Art + Design.
Returning to Calgary in 2002 after teaching jewellery at the Kootenay School of the Arts for two years Rae began teaching at ACAD in 2003 and opened INFLUX Jewellery Gallery with three partners in 2004. They sold it in 2011 and it continued to operate until May of 2015.
Shona Rae has won numerous national and international awards, government grants and attention for her sculptural art in Europe and North America. She received “Steel Trophy Award” for the 70th Anniversary Canadian Metal Arts Guild exhibition, the “Award of Excellence” from the Alberta Craft Council, an “Alumni Legacy Award” from ACAD, “Honorable Mention” at the “8th Cheongju International Craft Competition”, Cheongju, Korea, a Canada Council and 2 AFA grants to name a few.
Rae is a member of the ACC, The Burns Visual Arts Society where she had her studio for over a decade, SOCAN, Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada and The Canadian Metal Arts Guild. Presently, she operates Shona Rae Studios and the Blackboard Gallery in the new cSPACE King Edward facility. The gallery represent over 15 artists and the studio offers classes and bench rentals along with 3-5 part time assistants.
Ms. Rae finished her opus series of twenty-two sculptural fairy tale rings in 2018 that she began in 1998. In May of 2013 a documentary was launched that filmed the creation of one of the sculptures from start to finish. This year another documentary was created to show how the sculptural fairy tale rings spin, open, play, make music and even snow while on exhibit at the Nickle Galleries, University of Calgary, October -December.
Shona continues her professional studio practice, teaches part time, runs The Blackboard Gallery and is the lead singer/songwriter for “Shona Rae and the VooDoo Hand”, a professional swamp-a-billy rock band.
An utter Madwoman and an obsessive ‘maker’ and ‘songwriter’, Shona Rae maintains a commitment to the study, practice and education of art, craft, design and ROCK and ROLL!!!