Shane Watt

Shane Watt is a Canadian visual artist, musician and sound engineer, currently living in Montreal.
== Early life ==
Shane Watt was born on August 15, 1972 in British Colombia and grew up in the towns of Peachland, Princeton and Penticton before moving to Montreal, Quebec in 1995. He has also lived and worked for extended periods of time in Miami, Florida.
== Artistic Career ==
A critically acclaimed visual artist, Shane Watt's career is to a large degree defined by the making of semi-fictitious maps. His maps have been described as holding an"...aesthetic does bear some resemblance to traditional map-making, but upon close inspection the usual indicators of place and perspective are often undermined, overturned or imaginatively redesigned."https://artanddesigninspiration.com/shane-watt-creative-cartography/ 
Beginning with a series of wall-sized, hand-drawn maps that he distributed to various friends, Watt embarked upon a career as an artist in the early 2000's that has since seen his work exhibited internationally including in Montreal; Lagos; Miami; in New York City where he contributed as part of the 2010 Katherine Harmon-curated exhibition “You are here: Mapping the Psycho-geography of New York City” held at the Pratt Institute; in Fort Lauderdale where in 2013 he produced a series of outdoor murals https://www.saatchiart.com/shanewatt; and in Barcelona as part of a 2015 residency at Jiwar https://jiwarbarcelona.com/shane-watt-mapping. 
His work has appeared in several publications including El Paishttps://elpais.com/diario/2011/05/16/tendencias/1305496801_850215.html , Muzzle Magazinehttps://www.muzzlemagazine.com/shane-watt and The Guardian which described his map Shutterbug as "a 'mash-up map', inspired by a long-distance relationship... includes features from Montesquiou in south-west France, Athens, Washington DC and Philadelphia"https://www.theguardian.com/travel/gallery/2013/may/15/10-best-hand-drawn-maps-in-pictures.
== Musical career ==
As singer, a bass player and a guitarist, Shane began his career as a musician as part of the burgeoning independent music scene in 1990s British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, by performing in a number of bands such as AdamtoZoe and Jesus Fruitstand. AdamtoZoe in particular gained local notoriety with their 1994 release "It Seemed Like a Good Idea", and by headlining local festival events such as The Oliver Mosh Bash (T.O.M.B.) in 1995. 
Watt moved the AdamtoZoe project to Montreal, Quebec in 1995 and in 1997 recorded the album "All Rhythm Girly Section", before transitioning into his a role as a solo performer and releasing two records of his own: "Elan's Diner" (Grenadine Records) - 2007,described by the CNET Editors Review as a "low-rent acoustic guitar that cuts to what counts.”https://grenadinerecords.com/artist/shane-watt Watt's next album, was the 2009 "Everything You Ever Wanted to Hear" (totallyrealprobablynotfake records). 
A keen collaborator, Watt has for over twenty five years been a mainstay in Montreal's vibrant independent music scene. As a musician he has toured internationally on numerous occasions and has performed in a number of musical projects including with Cooper Thompson, Biffy Perdu, Krista Muir, Lederhosen Lucil, the High Dialshttp://thehighdials.net/category/uncategorized/, S.W.A.L.L., Graffiti People, XOR and Ironic Butterfly. He has occasionally used the pseudonym "Wayne Shot" in his work as a touring and studio musician.
As a sound engineer and producer he was involved with Grenadine Records before co-founding his own imprints: RudeSolo Records and totallyrealprobablynotfake records. Watt has worked as the head engineer at Marsonic Studios for over a decade and has produced, recorded and mastered a number of albums including by: Krista Muir, A Montreal Paulhttps://amontrealpaul.bandcamp.com/album/awaiting-an-awakening, shoegazer outfit REPOhttps://echoesanddust.com/2020/06/repo/ and Reverend and the Makers' former guitarist Tom Jarvis.
== Speaking Engagements and Workshops ==
Shane Watt has conducted workshops and facilitated arts-based education in a number of contexts. He co-leads Paper Places, a series of workshops on map-making and the collective urban imaginary. He has presented on Paper Places and other topics in both academic and community context including at the Articule Montreal artist-run center as part of Concordia University's 2017 season of University of the Streets Café, at McGill University's "2018 Art as an Agent of Social Change Symposium" and at the 2020 HTMlles Festival.
==In the media==
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Category:Canadian artists
Category:Canadian musicians
Category:Canadian audio engineers