SHAWNA J. C. TENNEY
Shawna J. C. Tenney grew up honing her imagination in hand-me-down dress ups, backyard forts, and the fairy tale section of her suburban Utah library. She learned the beauty of line, form, movement, story, and hard work by dancing ballet for 14 years. Her mother imparted a love of picture books through their nightly bedtime reading of titles like: Imogene’s Antlers, Roxaboxen, The Widow’s Broom, and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.
As a child Shawna preferred drawing on her schoolwork to completing it, but never considered art as a career until, in a fortuitous scheduling snafu, she was erroneously placed in an A.P. Art course, and loved it! She subsequently earned her BFA in Illustration from BYU. Shawna is always inspired by her connections with other creators and runs a monthly critique group. She enjoyed hosting the Stories Unbound podcast for several years and helps to organize the annual illustrator’s conference for her local SCBWI. Today you might find her playing the piano or violin, adventuring with her family, or creating magical stories with just the right combination of color, composition, whimsical characters, and words.
