Artist Interview - Uncommonly Associated
One way or another, you’ve probably spotted Uncommonly Associated. Maybe you’ve seen Shannon Dillman, the artist behind the Uncommonly Associated brand, jamming out in her studio while painting scenes from her favorite movies on vintage wedding dresses. Or maybe you’ve seen her while she’s running between her studio and the utility sink to clean her brushes for a new painting. Even if you didn’t spot the artist herself, she has carefully curated the wall outside her studio to showcase her newest pieces. Wherever she is, she’s probably skillfully posting her work on social media and her new website.
Shannon has always been on the move in some way. Growing up as a family in the military, she lived in Japan for a time in her childhood, before getting her degree in English with a focus in Medieval British Literature. Knowing she didn’t want to be a teacher, she used the degree to become a reporter for the Westside Messenger for a number of years. Later, she’d take a job with Playhouse Disney Live, traveling around the country and living on their tour bus. Now she is able to declare “I’ve been to every state except Alaska!” When she returned from her cross-country job, she worked at OSU coordinating other people’s travels through OSU transportation logistics.
A few of the paper mâché pieces Shannon still keeps in her studio.
Eventually, Shannon decided to become a skydiving instructor. Often her job was to ”fly camera”: she would jump with people, film the jump, and later critique it. She humbly states she “only has 555 jumps” under her belt, but I remind her that that is 555 more than most people. At this time, Shannon had begun painting galaxy scenes on paper mâché forms, some in the shape of shoes, when she made the next leap.
“When you have a camera on your helmet when you’re skydiving, and have the perspective of looking down at your feet- say at 3,000ish feet when your parachute opens- you look like a giant walking on the ground.”
Hence the need for some really cool shoes. Shannon quickly moved on from the paper mâché forms and onto shoes that were either bought new or thrifted. But her artistic plans were too big for the small canvas of shoes; she began painting on jackets and purses, still maintaining the galaxy prints, but just beginning to venture into pop culture pieces. In fact, selling the galaxy and pop culture accessories was Shannon’s first step into 400 West Rich. She participated in Festivus, the annual holiday market in 2018, and was set on making a permanent space for herself in the studios.
The pop culture paintings took off, and she hasn’t looked back since. The movie Midsommar was a huge impact for Shannon. She found herself painting scenes from the movie, but once again needed a larger canvas than a bag or jacket. She found a massive wedding dress at the thrift store for $14, and painted the entire dress with imagery from the movie.
Shannon’s Midsommar dress
Her work is bright and colorful, and truly playful. If you stop and look at the details, maybe in her dinosaur-armageddon thrifted wedding dress, or her Mad Magazine leather jacket, you begin to see the story. The longer you look, the more symbolism and thoughtfulness you witness. Shannon likes that her work can be relatable to people on different levels. She uses the example that kids often run over to see her huge colorful dresses, but when the parents catch up, they examine the dresses more carefully and see the depth of the pieces. Shannon has told a story on those clothes, and she wants you to read it.
The topical Mad Magazine jacket
One huge element of her process is utilizing sustainable clothing. In both her personal wardrobe and her supplies for her paintings, Shannon is committed to only using “slow-fashion”, or things that have been thrifted or donated to her. In her words, it’s about the revival; taking a piece that isn’t wanted anymore and making it special again.
For the next piece in her portfolio, she’s calling back to her literature degree. She’ll be working on a vintage 1940’s pink satin wedding dress, with plans to dye it and then paint Dante’s Circles of Hell, but each circle will be a time period of art and pop culture.
Shannon says that having her studio at 400 West Rich has changed the type of work she makes. She says that the community of artists, plus a designated space to think and work on art, have transformed the way she makes things. It allowed for more focus to create the deeper and more symbolic work.
Shannon loves her studio for many reasons, one of which is that she’s had unexpected opportunities come her way. She says, “So much has happened because I’ve simply been open and here.” For instance, the Columbus Creative Industry Mixer (CCIM) took place at 400 West Rich in January, and Shannon played a huge role in the event, but only got involved about a week before the event took place. She tells the story of the event organizer visiting the building for a pre-event walkthrough with her kids. The kids ran into Shannon’s studio to see the colorful wedding dresses, and the organizer was blown away at the pieces. She knew these pieces needed to be involved somehow, and a week later Shannon featured a collection at CCIM.
On another day, a local photographer happened to be wandering the halls in 400 when she stumbled on Shannon’s studio and one of her bright massive dresses. The photographer said she knew that dress was the one for her upcoming shoot. Later it was the featured element in the fine-art photoshoot.
She says that some open-house days at 400 she won’t sell a piece of work, but she is constantly making connections and relationships with the community; she has found major success in commissions from these connections.
Shannon explains her strategy for the display outside the studio is simple: constantly change it. “A lot of people come to every Franklinton Friday, and if the galleries are changing each time, they don’t want to see the same stuff on the walls outside my studio.” She thinks it is important to rotate the work, even if you can’t replace it with new pieces. She’ll swap out dresses or jackets on the wall outside her studio with the ones inside, so different pieces catch people’s attention.
Her studio is set up carefully, too. You’ll see the eye-catching work on the outside, and when you enter, she has another smaller gallery setup of her exciting pieces. Across from the gallery wall, she has a shelving setup of smaller artwork that is good for people to purchase, and then the back is her space to work. She claims, “People love to watch other people work. If I’m in here, people are weirded out if I’m just sitting and staring at them!” For this reason, Shannon sits her chair at a slight angle towards the door, so she’s able to keep an ear out for people who enter and want to chat, but doesn’t pressure people who may just feel more comfortable experiencing the work in their own time and way.
Shannon has big goals, and she’s working hard towards them. Her next dream is to collaborate with some designers in big cities, incorporating her artwork into their high-fashion pieces. “I never had any idea this is what I wanted to do,” but clearly, this is what Shannon was meant to do!
Check out Shannon’s work at her Uncommonly Associated studio in 400 West Rich Studio 146, or on her website.