Chip Shaw Retrospective

Howard Chapin “Chip” Shaw III (1957-2021) will be remembered as an excellent, caring art teacher in the Pikes Peak region. The Chip Shaw Retrospective will open Friday, Sept. 3, at the Manitou Art Center to celebrate his legacy as an artist and art educator. Nearly 200 works of art, including drawings, paintings, and ceramics, from small rattles and pinch pots to large-scale sculptures, will be on display through Saturday, Sept. 25.

Online sales will begin Saturday, Sept. 4, at manitoumade.com. A portion of all proceeds will be donated to the research of progressive supranuclear palsy; information: curepsp.org.

Chip’s teaching career spanned 40 years, including Bemis Art School, where he was an instructor, Head of the ceramics department and Assistant Director; as an on-site coordinator for the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation; and for the past 33 years in Cheyenne Mountain School District 12, serving at the elementary, junior high and high school levels. He taught jewelry, studio art, AP drawing and painting, and ceramics (his focus at Adams State College, Alamosa, where he received his master’s degree under emeritus professor Cloyde Snook).

Before he retired in 2019, Chip was awarded Teacher of the Year, an honor he treasured. Even more meaningful were words from students who let him know how he impacted them. Students in one of his classes came up with this sentence to capture him: “Mr. Shaw cares with all his mind and heart about each student’s creative journey.”

Chip was always active in the arts community as well, and his works are in countless homes from his exhibits in galleries throughout Colorado and in Santa Fe. He is likely best known for clay vessels and sculptures that are nature-inspired and smoke-fired or raku-fired, often with metallic leaf inlay.

Only one year after his retirement, Chip began to demonstrate health problems, leading to a long process of exploration, and finally, in December 2020, to a diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare neurodegenerative disease with no treatment. He passed away June 23, 2021, at the age of 64.

Though he will not be present at this opening reception, Chip was able to take part in the preparations and was happy to know his dream of a retrospective would come true, thanks to the teamwork of the MAC, fellow artists, and Cheyenne Mountain School District colleagues.

Photos courtesy of Rhonda Van Pelt.

About the Manitou Art Center: Your neighborhood art center is dedicated to creating an environment in which artists, tinkerers, collaborators, and you can flourish in our community. Manitouartcenter.org.