Michael Shaw

Artist in Residence 2019/20

Michael Shaw curates, teaches and makes sculpture. He has participated in solo exhibitions in the UK and group shows around Europe together with various public commissions, residencies, projects. He has been a lecturer in Fine Art at Loughborough University since 2019 and is also curator of Burghley Sculpture Garden.

His work incorporates drawing, printmaking, installation and sculpture using resin, inflated PVC, neon, plastics, rubbers and bronze. In 2019 he was chosen as Wirksworth’s first Artist in Residence and introduced the town to his work by exhibiting a selection of his giant inflatable sculptures in St Mary’s Church. Little did we know that 2019 would be the last Festival for two years. Unfortunately the isolation of COVID made it impossible for Michael to mount his final exhibition.

His work is increasingly driven by the accommodation of perceived paradoxes such as; the invisible, weightless, and seemingly formless objects. Light and the ability of translucent and transparent form to capture it have become crucial: with edge and membrane equally significant for the definition of geometry and the creation of illusion and ambiguity. Much recent work has been driven by digital technologies and in particular the 3D CAD software Maya, alongside CAM and rapid prototyping technologies.