Art Shirer has produced welded steel sculpture for more than four decades and is known for his kinetic forms and ephemeral site-specific installations. His True North 2020 collaborative sculpture “Carbon Sink” (with Dallas artist Sherry Owens) was one part performance art as they meticulously pieced the work together on site over a period of several days in March (just as the pandemic was closing in) using hundreds of discarded crape myrtle cuttings. Made of welded steel and found industrial objects, Shirer’s 2024 sculpture “WISH,” with its fantastical shapes and movement, appears as a mysterious primeval relic—meant to grant your every wish with a spin of its ancient wheel.

Shirer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and received a BFA from East Carolina University, an MFA from Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, and an Artist Fellowship from the State of Louisiana Division of the Arts. An art instructor earlier in his career, Shirer taught at Creative Arts Center School of Sculpture, Dallas, and School of Art and Architecture, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston. Exhibitions of his work include Locke Surls Center for Art and Nature, Cleveland, Art League Houston, Port Jefferson Nature and History Center, UMLAUF Sculpture Garden + Museum, Austin, Redbud Gallery, Houston, and Fain Fine Arts Center, Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls. Selected public collections include Martin Museum of Art, Baylor University, Waco, San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, the City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Dallas College, Brookhaven, the City of Dallas, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Onslo County Museum, Jacksonville, North Carolina, and East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.