Shaun Thurston is a native of Jacksonville Florida whose childhood walls served as his first canvas and the impulse to draw on anything and everything has remained a constant ever since. With the swampy florida woodlands as his backyard, his teenage years were formed, balancing nature's peaceful influence with frequent caffeine-fueled bus rides into the city. Graffiti and skateboarding culture captured his attention, while art school gave him the discipline necessary to hone his artistic impulses. Primarily self-taught, Thurston graduated from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and attended Florida School of the Arts for two years before transferring with a portfolio scholarship to Savannah College of Art and Design after winning 1st place in S.C.A.D.'s annual sidewalk chalk competition. In 2001, he decided that six years of Art Education was enough; his roots in graffiti and street art as a whole still remained his strongest inspiration.
Shaun lived in Atlanta from 2007 to early 2010, where he continually showed and participated in group shows in various well known galleries around town, Beep Beep Gallery, Youngblood Gallery, Alcove Gallery, Swan Coach House Gallery, Jenny Henley Studios, Mint Gallery and Wonderroot, to name a few. He has performed live painting for Sneaker Pimps, painted murals for the Living Walls Conference and developed a reputation for consistently creating work that was above and beyond expectations. While in Atlanta, he spent the little time available when he was not working on a project doing free lance stage design work, broadening skills that would later be useful in his private artistic endeavors.
Shaun Thurston has since moved back to Jacksonville with intentions of securing full-scale studio space, to propagate a collection of public works and has continued to create his original artwork in various studios throughout the last eleven years. He is currently a partner in the popular art-space, Thief in the Knight, located downtown on Adams Street, where he has created a progressive mural that seems to have new life with each month that passes. He recently completed a prominent mural in historic 5 points on Lomax street, sponsored by Riverside Avondale Preservation, which is his second wall to win Folio-weekly's Best of Jax award. Most recently, he was commissioned by On Ideas Advertising Agency for a series of paintings that now hang in their main office space downtown.
Squid Dust is a native of Northeast Florida who has been painting zombies, creatures, and abominations since 2006. In that time his work has been seen on Burro Bags, Arturo Clothing, Dog & Pony Show Prints, as well as many group shows around the Jacksonville area. Growing up in the woods of Clay County, Squid Dust spent his childhood drawing, listening to heavy metal, watching cartoons, and building forts in the forest behind his house. Now, years later, these continue to be some of his primary influences. With his newest work he is expanding on the imagination and mythology that comes from growing up in the woods and what it means to be a kid with a trail.
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