Shanks has been recognized as a practitioner of digitally mediated printmaking.  His goal is to use technology to foment artistic improvisation, its presence opaquely rendered within the final interpretation of the work.  Shanks manipulates representation, constructing a highly transformed reality where the images become implicit analogies for human experience.  His photographic and digital processes yield artful intricate designs with expert craftsmanship. 

Shanks has exhibited in over 150 national and international group exhibitions including the 2007 Wrexham Print International, Boston Printmakers 2007 North American Print Biennial, 31st Bradley International Print, and Drawing Exhibition, 2006 Colorprint USA and Print Arts Northwest Currents 2006.  Solo exhibitions include such venues as the University of Alabama, Auburn University, University of Georgia, University of Alaska and Tampa area galleries.  He has served as a panelist and demonstrator at numerous national and international printmaking conferences. 

Shanks’ work is in collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, the Fogg Museum in Boston, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.  Shanks received a BFA from the University of South Dakota and his MFA from Arizona State University in 1986. For 34 years Shanks was the head of printmaking at the University of South Florida.  He retired in 2020 and is now a full time artist.