Shannon Cannings lives and works in Lubbock, Texas where she teaches at Texas Tech University. Cannings’ expertly painted, hyper-realistic toy guns explore the artificial nature of American consumerism, creating a visual hybrid between opposing themes of beauty and kitsch, innocence and violence, nostalgia and regret. Cannings received an MFA from Syracuse University in New York and has been featured in New American Paintings and Miami Art Fair. In 2011 she was selected to exclusively represent the West Texas region in the Texas Biennale.