Creating Art That Commands Attention

Person with short hair smiling, wearing a purple hoodie with a colorful skull design, in a setting with flowers in the background.

Painting “Finding Peace”

Artist Statement

Shannon Rios

“For most of my life I’ve been a quiet observer. Painting was the place I could lean on when I didn’t feel seen or heard, and over forty years it became the way I speak. When I was young I wanted to paint the bold women everyone watched. Now, at 56, I’m drawn to women like Mother Mary and Mother Teresa, whose strength came from how deeply they saw others. That’s what I try to do in the studio. I witness simple, everyday moments and build them in layers, letting what’s underneath show through, because nothing we’ve lived is wasted. Whether a painting sells or not, the payoff is the same: someone stops, looks closer, and sees a little more hope than they did before.”

Experience

Shannon Rios is an internationally collected mixed media oil painter based in Southern Idaho. She earned her BA in Fine Art from California State University, after first earning an AA in Fine Art, and has been painting for more than 40 years.

Her work has been featured in Artsy Shark, Aatonau, ArtHerStory magazine, Artist Close Up magazine (Issue #37), FineArtsNews.com, and the book The 100 Emerging Artworks of 2025. She is also a Singulart trending artist.

Her painting Twilight Herd recently took 2nd place at Art Source Gallery in Boise. Closer to home, nine of her paintings appeared in Magic Moments, a Magic Valley Arts Council exhibition at Full Moon Gallery in Twin Falls. Her painting Perrine at Sunset is on view there in Touched by Fire / Waterworld through October 30. She will also have a record number of 20 paintings displayed and for sell at the Full Moon Gallery’s Art of the Gift, Nov 6, 2026 thru Jan 1,2027

A woman with short hair, wearing a light purple shirt and jeans, smiling while standing in an art gallery. Behind her are colorful paintings, one of a river scene and another of a stylized cow. To her right are jewelry displays in a glass case.
A man and woman standing outside a building, smiling for the camera. The man is wearing a beige vest and pants with a navy shirt and patterned tie, sunglasses, and black shoes. The woman is dressed in a black dress, black heels, and holding a black jacket and some papers, with a tattoo on her ankle.
Woman with short hair, black leather jacket, and black pants standing in front of four abstract paintings of women playing musical instruments at an art gallery.

Our Vision

Shannon & Reuben Rios are building a modern West. Biblical Figures, horses, dancers, landscapes, desert light and women who hold their own; drawn in geometry, layered in transparent oil and colored so the room changes when you walk into it. Made in Southern Idaho, for the homes, galleries and collections that want something made by a human hand and that hold real weight .