The Firehouse Arts Center is excited to feature the work of Alana Shoars onto the PAL Wall from November to December 2024.

Shoars is a local Pleasanton artist of Irish descent who has rediscovered her passion for both art and her Celtic heritage. Though she has never received any formalized art training, she has been painting for 40+ years. Her motto being that the Irish never do anything by half measures, Shoars’ paintings are the result of the three P’s – practice, perseverance, and patience.  She believes that every artist makes human errors while painting and those imperfections eventually evolve into the artist’s unique style.

Shoars has been working on a series of paintings that metaphorically symbolize (with a heart) the traditional Celtic concept of searching for “Mo Anam Cara” (Irish phrase meaning “my soulmate” or “my soul-friend”).  The objective of the paintings in this series is to emphasize how eternal and extensive the search for one’s soulmate is.  The series is meant to encourage the viewer to reflect on his or her own searches in life.