Work Portfolio

I work as a sculptor and independent artist, as an art teacher, and as a freelance fabricator. Below is a portfolio of my works and services. Please scroll down and click the links for details.

SASS: Skilled Artist Support Services

I work with a team of fabricators as part of SASS, making sets and props for companies. Our work is broad, and includes large projects such as set fabrication for Hennessy for Portland Cocktail Week, character repairs and detail painting on the Transformers for Universal Studios Hollywood, and also smaller projects for local restaurants such as murals and interior pieces for Purrington’s Cat Lounge (click link to see the interior we painted!). I have worked with SASS for two years and it continues to be rewarding and challenging. The expectation of superior work really pushes me as an artist, and I find I really enjoy making exacting, exceptional pieces with a talented team.

Shields

My main focus for my personal practice is the Shield-Shop, where I work on expanding the hybrid-market for custom sports equipment and fine art. My shields are designed for Battle Games as a full-contact sport, and feature custom durable fine artwork.

I complete all of the artwork, with the occasional assistance from apprentices. All of the sculpture and finish work is completed using techniques I learned while at the University of Oregon studying Art, and also from growing up working in both theater and home construction. Click here for our Shield Gallery.

Shield-Shop was featured in two segments on KGW8 news!

Portland Today and KGW8 News “Movers and Makers” and even a Bonus Promo!:

shannon-and-drew-portland-today

Below are some articles about me and the Shield-Shop:

Classes

I works as an art educator in Portland, Or, and have formal training in art from the University of Oregon, as well as 15+ years of teaching experience in both art and athletics, including basketball, soccer, and most medieval combat sports.

Arts Education

Since 2016 I have been a docent at the Portland Art Museum, where I give educational tours to students of all ages on the art and history of our collection, and of visiting works. I also teach workshops on sculpture are painting for props and faux finishing, most notably at the Winters Edge Arts and Science Symposium in Georgia every spring.

In the 2014-2015 school year I had the pleasure of teaching art at the Oregon Artist School (OAS), which focuses on personalized and rigorous fine art education for children and youth, ages 4-16. OAS is unique in both the focused format, and in that it offers materials and classes in Chinese. I taught drawing, painting, and oil painting to groups of 8-12 kids, of mixed ages from 4-10, in 90 minute after-school classes. My students all chose to take art as an after-school activity and I very much enjoyed this environment.

The view from the back of the class.

The kids being awesome.

A closer look at the finished piece.

One of my Art for Life classes during reading time.

From 2013-2014 I taught at Art for Life, an after-school-care program that offered an arts curriculum, along with recreation, and tutoring. My job was to teach fine art, creative thinking, and teamwork to children K-5 within the Portland Public Schools. Primarily we focused on introducing new materials and methods to young artists. I liked the variety and volume of work and kids in this environment, especially the outdoor education opportunities. I also enjoyed teaching more than one art medium.

Artist Assisting: Sculpture

I have worked as an artist assistant for two large-scale sculptors in based in Portland. While at the U of O I learned metal and shop skills from the Arts and Theater departments, and I applied those skills by cold grinding for Pete Beeman and David Willis. Below is more information on what I contributed, and the projects we worked on.

Winter/Spring 2013:Artist Assistant for Pete Beeman Artworks. Grinding, cutting, routing, etc. various metal parts for large-scale moving sculptures, helping create prototypes in the wood shop, misc. work. Pieces worked on:

“Daan Flower” by Pete Beeman. From my time as an assistant at Pete Beeman Artworks.

“Runner” by Pete Beeman. From my time as an assistant at Pete Beeman Artworks.

Fall 2012: Artist assistant for David Willis Glass working on cold-work for 6 feet glass daisies. Carving 2 ft long glass petals to custom fit the rounded daisy centers for a traveling. public work.