About
My name is Steph Shaver and I am a visual artist living in Vancouver, British Columbia. I like to make drawings of the world around me; plants, people and spaces. I am inspired by how things grow and the threads that connect us all. I draw at a little desk overlooking my beautifully unruly vegetable and flower garden. I live in a 1945 glass stucco house with my husband and kiddo. We live in a small town vibe neighbourhood about as far east as you can go in Vancouver.
SJ (Stephanie Jane - that's me), and Fàs, the Scottish Gaelic word for 'growth' or 'increase', is both a connection to my heritage, and a word that sums up the journey I have been on to get to this place.
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My Story
As a child, drawing was my safe space. It calmed me when I was worried or overwhelmed. I doodled on everything. If I didn't have a pen or pencil in my hand, my mind was somewhere else, but something about doodling helped me stay focused. After high school, I brought my pens and paper along as I traveled to Hawaii, the Philippines, Mexico and Central America.
In university I majored in drawing and painting, where I focused on human connection. I created hundreds of small portraits inspired by my travels.
I met my husband in the BC interior in 2009, and together we started a band, rode our bikes across Canada, and in 2019 we played music on the same stage as Chappell Roan (no joke).
We moved to Vancouver in 2014, seeking stability and certainty after years of freewheeling. It was during a bit of a tumultuous time in our lives. We were trying to expand our family, there were some traumas happening in my nuclear family and the stability we were seeking felt unsteady to say the least. I became quite isolated during this time and returned to my childhood safe space; I started making small drawings again. It felt like a little ledge to ground my feet on. That ledge became bigger and getting my hands moving was the only thing I could control. In those tiny drawings, the tiniest seeds of hope started germinating.
Our son arrived in January 2020 and everything seemed like it should feel complete. We were checking all the 'adult' boxes.
In 2023, our family went traveling for three months. I came to a place in my healing where I was able to realize what I had been missing. Yes, stability is important; Paying my taxes and having a safe car to drive is important. But, equally as important is fostering the things that make me feel vital and alive: making art, going on adventures and singing. I found myself drawing heather in Scotland, cacti on the Canary Islands and a spectacularly Speedo'd fisherman in Portugal. I was experiencing these amazing images of life and was absorbing the imagery through drawings and photos.
SJ Fàs is about celebrating change and encouraging growth. It's about reaching out and staying connected. This is about reminding the 8 year old inside me to keep drawing and dreaming.
