“Native New Hampshire Birds” Exhibit: September 12-November 2. An artist’s reception is today from 4-6pm.

Artist Shannon Bender has enjoyed creating from a young age. The journey for this series started last year. She wanted to create a theme that Upper Valley residents could relate to. Being in an area with so many that take part in bird watching with a variation of birds, she thought, “What a joy for people to see some of the many species that we have here in a painting series.”

In addition, the exhibition displays the different characteristics of each bird. Each original piece takes anywhere between 17-65 hours of strategic feather painting and many layers of acrylic which bring the painting to its final resting state.

Bio: Shannon is an alumnus of Canaan Elementary School and Mascoma HighSchool. She studied Fine Arts at Lassell College in Massachusetts for a time.

In the Mascoma District, she worked as a Special Paraeducator for 10 years. She is now a certified Special Paraeducator at the Hanover Street School in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

She is a local artist, residing in Enfield, NH. Her favorite mediums are pencil, acrylic, and tempera paints.