Our Story & Purpose

a renewed sense of purpose.

The Heart Behind Chord & Canvas

A Personal Message from Founder Shannon Harris

I have been an artist for as long as I can remember.

Long before I became a professional artist, art teacher, and product developer, I was a little girl who found refuge in creativity. Music and art became my sanctuary—a place where I could make sense of a world that didn’t always make sense to me.

Through the years, in the midst of chaos, confusion, heartache, and uncertainty, creating has been the one constant that has lifted my spirit and kept my head held high.

I didn’t always understand why. I just knew that creating made things better.

Years later, as I began teaching abstract painting techniques in my studio, something remarkable happened.

I discovered that I wasn’t simply teaching people how to paint.

I was watching people discover something within themselves.

Abstract painting offers a beautiful kind of freedom. There are no rules. No right or wrong. No expectation of perfection. No predetermined outcome.

Just a blank canvas, a little courage, and the freedom to create.

What fascinated me most wasn’t necessarily the finished artwork, although the results were often extraordinary. It was the transformation in the people creating it.

I watched hesitation turn into confidence. Anxiety give way to laughter. People who insisted they didn’t have a creative bone in their bodies suddenly stand back and admire something they had created with their own hands.

The pride was undeniable. The accomplishment was real.

And the joy was contagious.

That was when the vision for Chord & Canvas first began taking shape.

What started as a passion project soon became something much more personal.

At 49, I was diagnosed with macular degeneration.

As a visual artist, the possibility of losing the very sense upon which I had built my life’s work was almost impossible to comprehend.

It was frightening. It was overwhelming. And it forced me to consider what my future might look like if I could no longer experience art in the way I always had.

But it also opened my heart to an entirely different understanding of creativity.

Art is not simply something we see.

It is something we feel.

It is an experience, a connection, and a language that exists far beyond the limitations of sight.

Then, not long after my diagnosis, life delivered another challenge—one far more painful than anything I could have imagined.

My son began traveling down a dark and frightening path toward addiction.

Knowing that addiction runs deeply through his family’s history, I had long feared the possibility that he might face those same struggles. Watching those fears become reality was heartbreaking.

That journey eventually led him to an extraordinary recovery center, where he is receiving the support, guidance, and care he needs.

As a mother, there are few things more difficult than watching someone you love struggle with something you cannot simply fix.

And as an artist, I kept returning to the one thing that had helped carry me through my own difficult seasons.

Creativity.

Music.

Expression.

The ability to release what is inside us when words are simply not enough.

Suddenly, the purpose behind Chord & Canvas became unmistakably clear.

I wanted to share the very thing that had helped heal me with people who needed it most.

Today, Chord & Canvas is my way of bringing those experiences together—my lifelong love of art and music, my passion for teaching, my changing vision, and my profound belief that people deserve opportunities to experience joy and accomplishment, regardless of their circumstances.

My hope is to bring creative experiences into recovery centers, programs serving individuals with disabilities, and communities where art and music might otherwise be inaccessible.

Through hands-on painting workshops, collaborative creative projects, partnerships with musicians, and live painting events, we hope to build a community where creativity becomes a bridge to connection, confidence, and hope.

I cannot promise that art will solve every problem.

I cannot promise that music will take away every heartache.

But I know firsthand that a paintbrush, a song, and a moment of creative freedom can change the way someone feels about themselves and the world around them.

Sometimes, even if only for an afternoon, that change can mean everything.

Chord & Canvas was born from the belief that even in life’s darkest moments, something beautiful can still be created.

And sometimes, the most meaningful masterpiece isn’t what happens on the canvas.

It’s what happens within the person holding the brush.

Shannon Harris
Founder, Chord & Canvas
Professional Artist | Art Educator | Product Developer