Shawn Spangler breaking records

Shawn Spangler joins the department this semester from Illinois. Specializing in ceramics Shawn's work draws inspiration from craft, industrial design and digital technology.  His recent accomplishments include being included in the prestigious SOFA CHICAGO exhibition "The Futures: Celebrating Craftsmanship, Creativity, Commitment" focused on the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts. The artists selected for this exhibition have claimed their spot as leaders in the future of Watershed and of the broader world of Ceramic Art. Exhibition is curated by Seth Rainville, a Ceramic Artist and Curator for the New Bedford Art Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts

While active in his creative research Shawn is also busy in the classroom. Today he and his students set a new record of 160 lbs in a class exercise. Shawn write, "Students use 15 lbs of wet clay to construct a bridge - to see how many lbs that bridge can hold before collapsing under the weight.  For one student, the class got up to 130 lbs. We ran out of clay so we took out all but 50 lbs and had a student weighing 110lbs stand on it - without it collapsing.  Remarkable how durable we clay can be!"