Kurt Shaw Bio

Kurt Shaw

Kurt Shaw is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and currently maintains a studio in that city. After graduating with a B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University in 1989, Shaw began his career as a cartoonist and illustrator. Initial success included the publication of several of his cartoons in national publications, among them Cosmopolitan, The Saturday Evening Post, Woman’s World and National Enquirer. In 1991 he was the first of three cartoonists to be published in Esquire when that publication resumed including cartoons in its pages after a 15-year hiatus.

In 1992 Shaw turned his attention to fine art and opened his first studio in Pittsburgh’s West End. Major commissions soon followed, most notably wall-sculptures for the Windjammer Café on Royal Caribbean's Sovereign of the Seas. In 1995, after having confirmed a large-scale outdoor sculpture commission from his alma mater, Shaw attended the Hobart Institute Of Welding Technology, Troy, OH where he became a certified welder.

Two years later Shaw moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, opening a studio in Burlingame, California. While there he completed several private commissions as well as partook in the Designer’s Showcase at the Bing Crosby Estate in 1998.

In 2000 Shaw returned to Pittsburgh and within a year took the position of Art Critic for The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, which he still holds today. In 2007 he opened Shaw Galleries, an antique map, print and art gallery currently located in Downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District.

Over the years Shaw’s work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions, most notably in 1998 when he was featured in a solo show at the Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts in New Castle, PA and in 1997 when he partook in a two-person show at the Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA.

Over the years numerous awards have also been bestowed, among them a Golden Quill for Feature Illustration (1992) and Parenting Publications Gold Awards (2000, 2001, 2003) for various magazine covers. He is listed in the 2000-2001 Who's Who In The West, Marquis Who's Who, as well as several issues of The Guild and the Burridge Index.

Shaw is currently represented by galleries in Pittsburgh, Columbus and Cincinnati and continues working on large-scale commissioned work and smaller pieces for a long list of private collectors. Most notable among his commissions is “Seasonal Orb,” a 22 foot wide, 13 foot tall sculpture clock that was installed in April 2006 in the newly built atrium space of Progressive Medical in Westerville, Ohio.

For more about Kurt Shaw, visit: www.shawgalleries.com