Of Cast Iron, Textiles and Love Letters: A Conversation with Artist Anna Shapiro

Inside this Episode with Mitch Hampton

"As I say a lot when introducing guests on our show, there are some guests whom I have never had the opportunity to meet, only knowing them from their accomplishments in the public world.

Our guest Anna Shapiro is someone who I not only knew have known personally for almost two decades but she and I actually dated in the early 00s!

I have had the good fortune then to see both her her work evolve over a long stretch of time.

Like all the best artists Anna Shapiro is hard to encompass in a few words in a context like this. Straddling the worlds of sculpture, paint and performance, above all, her work is about the materials of life, how those materials sustain, benefit, and complicate our lives and the aesthetics of it all.

If I think about it, i can't think of any artist who can better represent the spirit of our podcast. An environmentalist, a feminist, Anna Shapiro also has worked as a park ranger, something about which I had no knowledge until this episode!

As always, one of the best things about this show is how each guest is always surprising and inspiring.

Anna’s Bio

Anna Shapiro is an artist and catalyst. She incorporates metal, textiles and other everyday materials into her sculptures. The work she makes connects social and ecological issues that have been important to her since her early employment as a wilderness guide and National Park Ranger.

Anna has received awards and residencies in Vermont, New York, Brazil and Latvia, and has spoken on panels about iron casting in relationship to five-element Chinese medicine and about eco-feminism.

She has published intermittently about these subjects.

Anna is known as the “wavelady” for her interactive performances “making waves”.

She loves molten metal, and has taught welding and iron casting at the Steel Yard in Providence, RI. Anna has also catalyzed many creative industries in Boston and Rhode Island including art spaces, festivals, alternative grocery stores and mobile hydroponic gardens.

Her studio is in Providence RI.

Links to Anna’s beautiful works

Website: annashapiro.com

Blog: wavelady.com

Instagram: @w.a.v.e.l.a.d.y

All the links and more information is on this post on my blog: http://wavelady.blogspot.com/2022/05/little-prompts.html