Shirley Wagner

About

Shirley Wagner graduated with a Fine Art Degree from Youngstown University in Ohio. Her favorite art class was sculpture where she developed a love of form and structure. For nearly three decades she has been fabricating wall sculptures in her Tucson, Arizona studio. In the last three years, Shirley has moved her focus to three-dimensional sculptures and public art. She is passionate about the ability for public art art to inspire and create a sense of community pride. In January 2022 she was awarded a grant from the Scottsdale Public Art Program for three monumental figures that celebrate health and wellness. In the same year, her monumnetal figure Burden was purchased by SculptureTucson and will be placed outside of a mental health facility in Tucson. She is currently undercontract with TMC to create a monumenetal sculpture for the new entrance to the Cardiovascluar Ceter where she can bring her wellness message to a health care setting. Her work has been widely shown in Arizona including Mesa's Contemporary Museum of Art, Tempe Center for the Arts, University Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, Pima County Arts Council, the Drawing Studio and Shemer Art Gallery. Her work is in the permanent collections of both the Honors College University of Arizona and Tucson Medical Center's Healing Arts Program. In her career, Shirley was nominated for the Governor’s Art Award, recognizing her contribution to the arts in Arizona. In January 2022 she was awarded a grant from the Arizona Commission for the Arts to incorporate 3d technology into her sculpture practice.  She is represented by Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson, Arizona.