70 Years in the Making
Owen Vernon Shaffer, known as O.V. or Verne, professionally, was born to Owen and Ina Shaffer in Princeton, Illinois in 1928. In 1950, he earned a B.A. from Beloit College and two years later obtained a teaching certificate to begin teaching at Olivet (Michigan) College. Later he earned an M.A. from Michigan State University in 1955. After leaving Michigan State, Shaffer became an assistant professor of art at Beloit College, and later the director of the college’s Wright Art Center.
In 1959, Verne Shaffer took a leave of absence from Beloit to assist the artist Clark Fitzgerald in Maine with three large-scale sculptures. The experience led Shaffer in 1961 to leave his position at Beloit College to focus on his artistic career as a sculptor. Still teaching occasionally, he participated in several in-residence programs which allowed Shaffer to work at different campuses including those of Fort Lewis College in Durango and the University of Tampa.
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"Expressions of a Midwestern Soul"
