My name is Peg Shaw
I am an interdisciplinary artist incorporating video, sound, photography, and mixed media, often within layered site-specific installations. Profoundly personal and politically aware, my work addresses how we can connect across time and space, be so moved by an experience that isn't ours, and truly care for people we will never know – “floating on a membrane of what we have been given, hovering just below what we have to give.” My work translates, re-imagines, weaves, and layers concepts from family history, the memory of place, storytelling, and the filtered experience of living in a chaotic political time.
Born in Oak Park, Illinois, I received my Master of Fine Arts in Photography from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. My work has been shown nationally including solo exhibitions in Chicago and New York, and has won numerous awards in both photography and video, including awards from the Illinois Arts Council and Arts Midwest/NEA Regional. I am an Art Professor in Photography/Video at Parkland College in Champaign, IL where I was awarded the 2016 Illinois Community College Trustees Association Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Award, and recently received the 40 North Artist Ace Award.
I live in the woods in a timberframe home we built by hand. My great-great-grandparents were friends with Abraham Lincoln. I still love my friends from junior high. I am a shy drummer that only makes noise in my basement.
