Shanna T. Melton is an award winning poet, painter, art consultant, educator, and author of “Unraveling My Thoughts” from Bridgeport, CT.  Performing, exhibiting and creating performance venues since 1997 has offered great opportunities to share her work with diverse communities.  Shanna has performed in poetry venues from Atlanta through Canada.  Her work carries the essence of humanity and poetry.  She began facilitating workshops like The Writer’s Group and creating poetry venues like Lyrical Voices Night of Poetry and Arts out of a strong desire to build a network of artists who can encourage one another to continue creating. Her paintings have been exhibited in many poetry venues throughout the tri-state area.  She had solo exhibitions in venues which include The Barnum Museum, Bridgeport, CT.  Her art is featured in “A Silent Genocide” and “Soldier Blues”, a documentary and play created by Tantra Zawadi.  She was among many talented artists exhibiting in The Margaret E. Morton City Hall Annex, Bridgeport, CT for the 2014 Black History Month Celebration.  She was also on exhibit for the 2014 Beautiful Crime exhibit at The Ground Floor Gallery in the Read's Art Space, Bridgeport, CT.  Fairfield University’s Dogwood Journal of Poetry & Prose chose Shanna’s “Esperanza Falling In” painting to grace the cover of their spring 2015 journal.  This painting was also chosen by Southern Connecticut State University’s 64 Days of Nonviolence, 2015.  African Voices Magazine recently featured Shanna’s portrait of Kalief Browder in a tribute to his story in their Winter 2015-2016 publication. This painting was also featured in Time: The Kalief Browder Story, a documentary produced by Jay-Z and presented on Spike TV.  Shanna exhibited in the 10 Women - 10 Years Exhibit at City Lights Gallery, Bridgeport, CT.  She also had a solo exhibit in Work_Space, Manchester, CT.  Most recently, Shanna had a five month solo exhibit at The Barnum Museum titled "Her Dragons Fly".

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