Shawn Williamson had his first stone sculpture commission in 1984 for Lancaster City Council with Medieval Knight. which stands outside the Law Courts. This brought further commissions in Lancaster, including Mary and Babe at Lancaster Priory. Other big works are at Lancaster University campus, arranged through The Peter Scott Gallery. At St Martin’s College he was commissioned to sculpt St Martin and the Beggar.

Shawn's approach inspired Lancaster City Council to engineer the Tern Project.
In 1985 Shawn went to Ambleside to work for 85-year-old Josefina de Vasconcellos, a great sculptress with a legacy stretching back to Rodin through Antoine Bourdelle. Keen to learn from his new teacher, Shawn helped Josefina with her larger stone sculpture commissions, while beginning some of his own.

In August 2008 Shawn was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Angel of Rydal Hall is spotlighted in Brits at their Best

His work follows in the Romantic tradition inspired by Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron, and he is also interested in William Blake.
Shawn is currently carving a 7-foot angel at Rydal Hall as a memorial to Josefina, who died in 2005 aged 100.
More of Shawn’s larger works can be seen in West Cumbria and other parts of the UK. Shawn is a member of the Artworkers Guild.
Shawn's Cumbrian novel Mauler ISBN 1904524370 (Hayloft Publishing) brings much of the substance of his work as a sculptor to life in the form of the written word.