San Benito County’s self-proclaimed
”
famous artist,
”
Shannon Grissom, won’t have to tell people she’s famous for much
longer.
She really will be.
San Benito County’s self-proclaimed “famous artist,” Shannon Grissom, won’t have to tell people she’s famous for much longer.
She really will be.
Showing her work at an Art Expo in New York City in February, she entered into negotiations with two companies regarding licensing her work. She picked up an agent who is interested in taking her public access television show national. And she is being considered for a nomination in a nationally acclaimed awards show for artists.
Art publisher Haddad’s Fine Arts, Inc. out of Los Angeles, signed with Grissom to make prints of her fruit paintings – expressly her pears and apples – which will then be sold to national conglomerates such as Macy’s, Nordstroms and Pier 1 Imports, Grissom said.
“It’s a huge, huge contract with a steady paycheck,” she said. “This all happened from me talking to people during the five-day event. People talk about that one big break… and that was it.”
Grissom, painting full-time only since 1992, fell into the profession that has not only become her livelihood, but also her passion.
While in New York she also entered negotiations with art agent Leonard Panar to license her work for reproductions on wrapping paper, greeting cards and other artistic media.
Panar’s interest was piqued in her local community access television show, “Give Your Walls Some Color,” but Grissom is unsure what will come of that involvement at this time, she said.
“It’s so overwhelming,” she said. “I’m still going through stacks and stacks of paperwork for everything.”
She was also interviewed by a nomination panel review for the 2005 ARTV Awards, which is the artists’ equivalent to the Academy Awards, Grissom said.
Although she hasn’t been nominated yet, she is in the top percentile out of all the artists interviewed, in which some of the most popular artists in the country are participating. Famed actress and artist Jane Seymour, and nationally acclaimed artists Bill Mack, Simon Bull and Peter MAX are just a few of the artists included.
“The fact that I’m even being considered is huge – I’m just little Shannon,” she said. “These people are at a national level, and it’s like I’m with the big boys now. Actually, I am.”
As if all of that wasn’t enough, she is also following up with galleries in Virginia, New York and Georgia to showcase her work.
While she was in New York she worked constantly, either at her booth lobbying her work to interested parties or following up afterward with e-mails and phone calls. She awarded herself only on the very last day of her trip with some sightseeing.
“I basically went there on a wing and a prayer and worked really hard,” she said. “People went out and played and partied, but for me this was work, and I didn’t let anything slide.”
After getting an invitation to the exclusive Art Expo, Grissom raised money to pay for the trip by selling paintings, videos and CDs.
Although she sold paintings outside the county, she garnered about 50 percent of her sales from San Benito residents, she said.
“They really supported me, and not just monetarily,” she said. “There are a lot of good people in this county who have helped me.”
