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Heidi Berrin Shonkoff has always engaged in what she calls the private pleasures of a creative life. From a very early age she recalls the sensuousness of immersing herself in art and art materials—collecting things for collage, drawing, throwing pots, loving the feel of paint, the ooze of clay, the smell and colors of crayons. Experiencing this “zone of total immersion” has continued to characterize her working process as a mature artist. |
| Shonkoff’s late father, Stan Berrin, was a painter. She has vivid childhood memories of standing beside him as he worked at his easel, smelling the delicious aroma of his oil paints intermingling with the cherry tobacco in his pipe and riding to galleries in Los Angeles on the back of his motorcycle. |
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| Shonkoff was a serious student of classical ballet and she has continued to dance throughout her life. Her paintings are marked by a sense of movement and kinesthetic vibrancy directly influenced by her background in dance. |
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Shonkoff completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley and for many years has had a private psychotherapy practice. Having worked so intimately with people in her clinical practice has strongly influenced the depth and texture in her art.
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| Shonkoff studied black and white photography, darkroom technique and life drawing at UC Berkeley until she fell in love with painting in the 1990s. Her formal study began with courses at UC Berkeley, and extensive private study with internationally exhibited painter Christine Peirano. |
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| Shonkoff has exhibited in many group and solo shows locally and nationally including Pryor Fine Art Gallery in Atlanta, Desta Gallery and Room Art Gallery in Mill Valley, CA, and Marin Museum of Contemporary Art. Her work has been commissioned and acquired by public and private collectors including large works for the Tropicana Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. |
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| Shonkoff’s paintings have been published in several venues, among them the cover and featured article in Traditional Home Magazine and in two books, "Wildlands” and “Artists of the Bay Area.” Her paintings have been used for promotional brochures for both the NY Academy of Medicine and the Berkeley Psychotherapy Institute. |
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| She lives and works in Berkeley, California. |
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