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John Alan Shown b. Oct. 17, 1937, San Antonio, Texas; d. Nov. 24, 2001, Mexico City, Mexico John was a multi-disciplinary Visual Artist creating paper collage, 3D assemblage and fabric stitcheries; shown in numerous art exhibitions in San Antonio, TX; Austin, TX; Manhattan, NY; and Mexico City, Mexico. He was also a Muralist, an Art-to-Wear Fashion Designer, and Model. Born to Evelyn Eugene Leonard Shown (b Nov 20 1905, d June 18 1990) and Winfred Guy Shown (b Sept 9 1894, d Feb 10 1986) They lived on Bryn Mawr in Alamo Heights, until their deaths. Both are buried at Fort Sam Houston, along with John's only sibling, older brother, W. Guy Shown (d 2008) Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, during his late teens and early twenties, John became a Costume Designer, Lighting Designer, and Set Designer for the San Antonio Little Theater (now known as The Public Theater of San Antonio) He also designed many gowns and trains for various Coronation Queens of the annual Coronation balls and parades of San Antonio, Texas. He carried all of this work with him to Manhattan, New York, in 1958, working Off-Broadway, while living in Greenwich Village. Often using his set design skills as a Window Dresser to create window displays for many clothing boutiques, jewelry shops and toy stores. Relocating briefly to London, England, to further his study of Theatre Design, before returning to the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Manhattan, NY. He and a handful of artist friends from San Antonio, TX that had also relocated to Manhattan, NY, created an artist’s salon. He began making short films with this collective of friends, colleagues and lovers. This artist’s salon was as much about expressing a freedom in their art, as it was about queer community, as most in this salon were queer and gay, escaping the dangerous confines of conservative 1950’s-1960’s Texas. Though homosexuality was still criminalized at the time, it was also widely understood that many in the visual arts, dance, and theatre worlds were queer and gay, finding safe haven within the arts. He kept wonderful documentation and journals of his artistic endeavors and collaborations with other artists, designers and activists. Many of these journals and various ephemera are in the Special Library Collections at the University of Texas San Antonio, which focuses specifically on queer San Antonio artists of the 1980’s, during the AIDS epidemic.

He returned to San Antonio, for the summer of 1964, to visit his parents and older brother, Guy. That summer he met Susan Lee Douglas (now Suzan Shown Harjo, Suzan Harjo) who at 19yo, was briefly interested in theater and acting, before following her path into Indian politics. They bonded in friendship, had a brief affair, during which time she became pregnant with their only child. They were then married in November 1964, in a small baptist church ceremony in San Antonio, TX, before she returned to Manhattan, NY with him. She turned 20yo on June 2, 1965, giving birth to their daughter, Adriane Shown, on June 28th.

They separated in 1972, when she became pregnant, by her boyfriend, Frank Ray Harjo. (American Indian activist, working at WBAI radio) She then added Harjo to her married name, becoming Suzan Shown Harjo. Remaining in Greenwich Village, John moved to an apartment, just a few blocks away. His work in theater costume and lighting design, window display, photography, book cover design had taken over a good portion of his resume at this point. After abandoning their daughter to her parents, June 1972, Suzan then gave birth to her son, Duke Ray Harjo in December 1972. Using the threat of exposing John’s homosexuality to employers and police, should he contest the illegal arrangement. (documented in letters within the UTSA library collection) John moved back to San Antonio, TX in 1974. Suzan moved her new family to Washington DC in 1974, where she began her political career. She and John would not divorce until after the death of her son’s father, Frank, in 1982. Frank’s death was due to complications of his lifelong struggle of addiction & alcoholism.

John and his long time partner, visual artist Donald Davenport, opened an art gallery at the end of the 1970’s, Shown/Davenport, which featured not only their own art, but that of other queer and gay artists. As well as hosting punk & techno bands of the early 80’s. After closing the Alamo Street gallery, they turned their attention to creating an art magazine, The Forum. The publication gave spotlight to San Antonio artists, activists, writers, and actors. Many issues are in the UTSA library collection. The Forum magazine won the ADDY award in 1986, for its logo of a red blood splatter Texas state silhouette. John continued to create costume design, lighting and set design for theater. He also created many costume designs for the annual Cornyation, as noted in the book, Cornyation: San Antonio's Outrageous Fiesta Tradition, by Amy L. Stone; a queer satirical spoof of the Coronation, highlighting local politics and scandal. His daughter, Adriane would serve as model until she moved to Los Angeles in 1986. Given the delicate nature of his visual artwork, being mostly paper collage and fabric stitchery, most artworks are lost to deterioration. Or have been lost, as many collectors have died over the years, and their estates were dispersed. His daughter created and maintains a FaceBook page for him, to archive the artworks that have been photographed over the years, are in private collections, or are in the UTSA library collection. After the death of John’s parents, he moved to Mexico City, Mexico, where he lived the rest of his life. He remained a visual artist, and became an advert model and commercial actor. He died with complications of AIDS, on November 24, 2001.