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Floyd Shaman (December 20, 1935 – August 8, 2005) was a 20th-century American sculptor.


Life

Born in Wheatland, Wyoming, Shaman lived in several parts of the state in his early years and briefly in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
, Washington where his parents worked in the aircraft industry as part of the war effort. He graduated high school from University Prep in
Laramie, Wyoming Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was estimated 32,711 in 2019, making it the third-largest city in Wyoming after Cheyenne and Casper. Located on the Laramie River in southeaste ...
. Shaman excelled in basketball and won a three-sport scholarship to North Dakota State Normal and Industrial School in
Ellendale, North Dakota Ellendale is a city in Dickey County, North Dakota, United States. It is the capital city of Dickey County. The population was 1,125 at the 2020 census. Ellendale was founded in 1882. Ellendale is the home of Trinity Bible College, located o ...
. After attending college for several years, he enlisted in the United States Navy and became a dental technician, a vocation that would presage his later artistic career. Returning to Wyoming in 1960, Shaman studied sculpture as an undergraduate at the
University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyomin ...
where he trained under
Robert Russin Robert Isaiah Russin (August 26, 1914 - December 13, 2007) was an American sculptor, artist and University of Wyoming professor. He was best known for a number of public sculptures throughout the United States, including the "Spirit of Life" fo ...
, one of Wyoming's most well-known artists. He earned a Bachelor's degree in art and went on to take a Master's degree in 1969, writing a thesis on the chemical patination of bronze. Shaman left Laramie and moved to Cleveland, Mississippi to teach art at Delta State University in 1970. He was hired to establish the sculpture division of the art department and he successfully implemented a bronze casting foundry as part of that project. Due to the difficulty of obtaining stone in Mississippi, Shaman began working in the more readily available medium of wood. A residency at Yaddo in 1976 resulted in one of his first major pieces, the Janus Road Show, a collection of three figures representing jazz musicians Shaman saw in New Orleans. He left academia after ten years at Delta State to devote himself full-time to sculpture. Shaman found success as an independent artist, regularly exhibiting work in galleries throughout the United States. One of his most beneficial gallery relationships was with the Elaine Benson Gallery in Bridgehampton, New York, which hosted an invitational charity art show to benefit a local animal rescue group. Shaman's own home and studio served as a local attraction, and starting in the mid-1990s his wife, Molly, ran a popular bed and breakfast that used his work as an appealing highlight of the inn. One of the South's most important figurative artists in the last part of the 20th century, his works are included in major collections across the United States and internationally.


Technique and subject matter

Though he was trained as a stone carver, Shaman's most significant work was in wood and involved the detailed process called
lamination Lamination is the technique/process of manufacturing a material in multiple layers, so that the composite material achieves improved strength, stability, sound insulation, appearance, or other properties from the use of the differing materials ...
. Shaman is featured in the textbook, ''The Sculpture Reference: Techniques, Terms, Tools, Materials, and Sculpture'' by Arthur Williams, where detailed photographs illustrate his technique and tools. He further refined the lamination process by developing a "hollow-core technique" that resulted in strong, yet lighter pieces. Shaman often filled the empty cavities of his sculptures with objects known only to the artist, a humorous touch that often intrigued and frustrated his patrons. His typical sculpture depicts everyday encounters defined by wry humor, irony, and sober reflection. Shaman's work was also often characterized as whimsical, a quality that can be seen in the work he created for puppeteer Peter Zapletal (see External Links below). His life-size human figures frequently portray the working-class people he evidently admires, though he also represented historical figures, animals, and characters from literature and film, including an altarpiece of The Last Supper, which is currently displayed at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Cleveland, MS.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=164197720302424 Shaman used other media in addition to wood, including stone, bronze, ceramics, and painting.


Museum Permanent Collections

Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi: The Inventor Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Louisiana: Karla Announcing Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, Georgia: Spike Finds Romance The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Annie Oakley


References

General review and several pictures of work available at:
May 2020 Mississippi Roads Public TV program about Floyd ShamanShaman Sculpture Studio / Molly's Bed & Breakfast Facebook PageMississippi Arts Hour on Mississippi Public Radio: Remembering Floyd Shaman2009-05-12 Art Show with a piece by ShamanArtist Profile at servinghistory.com
Short autobiographical story:

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaman, Floyd 1935 births University of Wyoming alumni Delta State University Artists from Wyoming 2005 deaths 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors People from Wheatland, Wyoming