Shawn Rossiter was born near Boston, Massachusetts in 1971. He spent his childhood and youth living in five different states along the East Coast and graduated High School in Houston, Texas. During this time, yearly vacations to Utah made the state a sort of second home for Shawn. After spending three years living and studying in Italy and Belgium, Shawn came to Utah in 1993 to attend Brigham Young University. In 1996, he graduated with degrees in English, French and Italian. He remained at the University for another year to complete a Masters program in Comparative Literature prior to pursuing a Ph.D. program. In the summer of 1997, a chapter short of finishing his Masters Thesis, Shawn dropped out of his program to devote himself full-time to art. He has intentionally not completed the Masters degree in order "to keep the wolves at the door." He now lives and works in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake City.

Shawn spends his summers in Italy - enjoying and painting the stunning Italian scenery. He is also actively involved in promoting the visual arts in Utah. In 2001 he helped to create Artists of Utah, a non-profit organization designed to strengthen the art community in Utah. He is currently the editor of their ezine, 15 BYTES. Shawn's works appear in public and private collections across North America as well as in Italy, France, Belgium, and Singapore. In 2004 he was awarded the SLC Mayor's Award for the Visual Arts.