2. ARTIST MAX EASTLEY RECENTLY SAID, “I COULDN’T SAY THAT ART WILL SOLVE EVERYTHING; IT WON’T
SOLVE ANYTHING. BUT THERE HAS TO BE A KIND OF AMALGAMATION OF EVERYBODY ALL LOOKING IN
THE SAME DIRECTION. FIRST, YOU HAVE TO CONVINCE PEOPLE THAT CLIMATE CHANGE IS HAPPENING,
SECOND, WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT AND, FINALLY, HOW LONG HAVE WE GOT?”
Our window of time to act globally to reverse the
destruction caused by climate change is waning. The
world ticks in the form of glaciers melting in the Arctic,
drop by crucial drop; in the form of salmon caught in
the Pacific Northwest, one of many populations being
decimated by changing water conditions; in the form
of inches of snowfall near the Atlantic coast, reaching
new records each year; and in the form of rising
monsoon swells in the Indian Ocean, devastating
thousands. We must act and it is my belief that it will
be through the exploration of unorthodox approaches,
such as the co-mingling of art and science, that critical
innovations will be achieved.
In late July of this year, I returned from an artist
residency in the Arctic Circle, where I spent three
weeks aboard a sailing vessel with 29 fellow artists
and scientists. Some were there to find inspiration,
some to complete projects in the quietude of this
region and some, like myself, were there to explore,
to learn, to research and to experience, with the
intention of returning home to share something
larger through their work. What began, for me, as a
fascination with the aims of the Svalbard Global Seed
Vault, one of the places we visited on our expedition,
quickly burgeoned into a broader interest; how can I,
through my chosen artistic mediums, address climate
change? In this land so pure, I came face to face
with the most critical issue of our times and knew
that I had a duty to try to educate those that have not
seen it firsthand about the effects of our insatiable
human needs. Uninhabited as it is, the Arctic is not
untouched.
Upon my return, I began work on a glass sculpture
that I aimed to be a signature piece for a new body
of work. The piece is a large relief sculpture of the
vessel I lived in, anchored in a bay of Arctic waters
with Arctic glaciers reaching into the background. The
piece serves to highlight the melting of the glaciers, as
it shows an abstract impression of what once was and
what is the reality now. Other smaller glass castings
and sculptures of elements, many made from natural
Arctic materials, support the relief sculpture and help
to convey the impact that climate change has on
the area, Simultaneously, using my own sketches,
photographs, and writings, I began compiling a journal
to accompany the collection. Imbued with notions of
my own learning, the collection is manifesting into a
visual travel memoir and it is through this work that
my proposed project idea was born.
Oceans in Relief, my proposed project for the 2016
Explorers Club Artist-in-Exploration grant, places my
Arctic work on a continuum of sister projects. The
project, a symposium of five ocean studies, will be
equal parts visual and educational; a five-part glass
sculpture series each with a journal chronicling my
experiences. Each collection will concentrate on
one of the five world oceans: the Arctic Ocean, the
Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean,
and the Southern Ocean, to address a regional crisis
with global impact. I intend to focus on the following
issues: glaciers melting in the Arctic Ocean; super
storms and coastal flooding in the Atlantic Ocean;
increased monsoon intensity in the Indian Ocean;
decline of aquatic ecosystems in the Pacific Ocean;
and the thickening of sea ice and rising temperatures
in the Southern Ocean. To authentically execute
this project, exploration of and travel to each ocean
is necessary. Concentration on the aforementioned
issues has helped to guide my time spent traveling so
far and will continue to do so as I explore the regions I
am proposing to visit.
The sculptural portion of Oceans in Relief will consist
of one capstone piece - a large glass relief sculpture
in a style reminiscent of classical frieze - and several
smaller castings per ocean, made from molds of
artifacts from each oceanic region, such as local
glacial rock, seed pods, shells, and animal remains.
My intentions for each capstone sculpture are to
illustrate a visual progression of the landscape,
hinging on my own frame of reference from visits
to each site and leading the viewer beyond shore
by illustrating the featured ocean. The significance
of these sculptures will lie in the symbolism of their
composition. Starting from a recognizable human
vantage point, like the one implied by the ropes of
the Arctic sailing vessel in my first piece, I intend for
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Proposal pg. 2
3. the viewer’s experience to begin with multifaceted
personal awareness: physical presence, occupation
of space, and individual impact. I want the viewer to
feel at the center of each landscape. From there, the
composition will illustrate the featured ocean and then
a unique regional characteristic of concern. Through
careful composition of each piece, I intend to use the
ocean as a reminder of our proximity to seemingly far
away places and far away disasters. Rather than be-
ing separated by oceans, we are connected by them.
In order for the viewer to fully participate in the climate
change dialogue that the sculptures invoke and to
further frame the project as an immersive experience,
I will be developing a travel journal. As an educational
artist, first-hand knowledge is a crucial element of my
work and documentation of my explorations is equally
critical. Research at home will enhance first-hand
observations, interviews, and experiences in the
making of this travel memoir and help to convey the
educational portion of the project. I aim to produce
the journal as a hardbound book and also as a video
presentation to be played during the exhibition of the
friezes and their supporting sculptures. I have at-
tached the beginnings of the journal that I have begun
producing about my experiences in the Arctic. This will
serve as a prototype for the subsequent journals.
My work has already afforded me the opportunity to
travel to three of the five oceans, so I am not seek-
ing funding for visits to the Arctic, Atlantic or Pacific
oceans or the creation of the sculptures for those
oceans. I am, however, seeking support to complete
the work I have started from my expedition to the Arc-
tic, travel to the Southern and Indian Oceans and the
development of the friezes, accompanying castings
and journals for those locations.
While this work stands on its own, it is important to
note that is project will not end with an exhibition.
Rather, the experience of the exploration and the
development of the art will serve as a starting point for
another project; one that I am not currently seeking
funding for but should be mentioned. For each ocean
study, there will be a curriculum developed for sec-
ondary level students to address a specific issue man-
ifested through climate change, and the sculptures
serve as the beginning of a conversation that each
curriculum will respond to. Please see the curriculum
cover prototype (page 15 of this document, in the
portfolio section), a course of my design called “Engi-
neering the Glass Seed,” based on my research and
time spent at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The
course debuted at Dartmouth College in New Hamp-
shire and encouraged high school engineering stu-
dents to approach the threat of an Arctic or global ca-
tastrophe in a new way. Not only does the Seed Vault
act as a type of insurance plan against global crop
disasters; scientists there are working to enhance the
adaptability of existing seeds and create hybrid seeds
that will flourish in a drastically different global climate
- a very likely scenario in the next century. This type
of research was mimicked at Dartmouth College, as
students took into account the importance of physical
and chemical seed structure in developing their own
seeds, which they made plaster molds of and then
cast in colored glass. Not only were the final products
visually stunning and unique, but the course aligned
with the principles of the STEAM initiative by weaving
art education, engineering, and environmental sci-
ence lessons together. The same curriculum will also
be taught at the Museum of Glass in Seattle, WA, and
at the Glass Factory in Smaland, Sweden, before the
end of the year. The success of this comprehensive
interdisciplinary curriculum has served as yet anoth-
er source of inspiration for the educational portion of
Oceans in Relief. I intend to use my exploration of the
regions I hope to visit to inspire the makeup of les-
sons for each curriculum.
My passion for this project is embedded in my mis-
sion as an educator, artist, and individual: that is, to
produce work that serves a purpose greater than its
own existence. As the importance of global climate
change awareness rises, I aim to educate different-
ly. With my proposed on-site research, these global
conditions will be seen through an infant set of eyes,
so to speak, and the products will be a fresh take on a
hugely important plight of this generation and those of
the near future. It is our human responsibility to fully
process our effects on our planet, and I believe that
this project will help to enlighten a new audience.
Oceans in Relief is an exploration of force, or many
invisible forces, made visible through art. These piec-
es, put most simply, aim to illustrate that which cannot
be seen by the naked eye. Like the passage of time,
climate change itself is an invisible entity. We can only
see it represented, in the form of signs and symbols
around us, and in mechanisms acting beneath the
surface. The friezes and the journals will be designed
to encourage a greater understanding of the world’s
oceans from an individual stance, a localized perspec-
tive, and within a global context and to encourage
the audience to think carefully and act quickly about
climate change before we have run out of time.
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Proposal pg. 3
4. SHANDRA MCLANE BIOGRAPHY
Shandra McLane is an experimental glass artist
and educator based in New England, and is
an active advocate of the STEAM initiative and
interdisciplinary practices. Her work addresses
pertinent social and environmental issues and
strives to function simultaneously as visually
enticing and socially relevant.
Shandra’s formal education as an artist took
place at the University of Southern California,
where she earned a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts with
honors, and in the South of France through what
is now Savannah College of Art and Design.
Later, she attended Pilchuck Glass School in
Seattle, Washington, the nation’s leading insti-
tution for the study of glass art and home to the
field’s pioneers and greatest innovators. Shandra
has been educated by some of the most iconic
figures in American Studio Glass and has trav-
eled across the United States pursuing the fullest
possible understanding and mastery of her craft.
Her transformation from disciple to independent
artist has involved borrowing and deconstructing
elements from what she learned from her faculty
of educators and rebuilding them anew.
Shandra’s extensive background in traditional
printmaking, drawing, sculpture, and hot and cold
glass techniques has made for a varied portfolio
that evolves visually and relevantly at each new
turn. Working cross-nationally for nearly two
decades alongside renowned artists like Martin
and Dr. Erik Demaine and Nathan Sandberg,
Shandra herself was internationally recognized
when she broke off independently in 2012 to
found Squam River Studios. Located in the heart
of New Hampshire, Shandra opened her studio to
serve as a hub for interdisciplinary collaborative
endeavors with her work at its center.
Exploration and experimentation have been the
highest principles of Shandra’s work since the
opening of Squam River Studios. Collections
have stemmed from exploring unfamiliar fields
and conjuring new ways to utilize her art in
promotion of both disciplines. Shandra has
worked closely with scientists, mathematicians,
and engineers at pivotal institutions such
as Dartmouth College in New Hampshire,
the Museum of Glass in Washington, the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the
Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and the Glass
Factory in Smaland, Sweden.
In 2015, Shandra spent three weeks aboard
a sailing vessel in the Arctic Ocean, studying
the remote landscape, its human and animal
inhabitants, and the effects of climate change in
the world’s northernmost points. Her capstone
piece from her expedition is a relief sculpture
carved out of frosted glass. With chilling
simplicity, it aims to share with viewers Shandra’s
own experience of virgin curiosity in a provokingly
majestic land. Accompanying the piece is a
curriculum for secondary-level students that
addresses the dire reality of the disappearance of
Arctic glaciers through art. This is how Shandra
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Biography pg. 4
5. develops her curriculums, as a learner rather than
an authority, emphasizing the human element in
global matters.
Her curriculums lead viewers by the hand as
they explore a new issue alongside the artist,
simulating an experience that begins with a fresh
set of eyes and delves into its intricacies through
art rather than traditional methods. Shandra’s
debut curriculum, “Engineering the Glass Seed,”
educated students about the importance of the
Svalbard Global Seed Vault in a global climate
change landscape. Shandra retraced her own
learning process in developing the curriculum.
The course is designed as a hands-on art project,
scaffolded by daily lessons about the vault, the
importance of seeds and their anatomy, and the
crisis of global climate change. Students’ final
products are not just beautiful glass castings of
self-designed functional seed pods, but equally a
wealth of new knowledge about the global issues
mentioned above.
Shandra’s body of work represents an essence of
activity on the part of the artist that comes from
an insatiable appetite for learning. She is an
explorer and a learner. She inserts herself into
unfamiliar territory, be it geographical, intellectual,
or artistic, and works her own way out. That is
her artistic process, and in carving her own way
through material, she paves a path for likeminded
people to see to the crux of a global scenario. She
strips it of it’s jargon and retells the story simply,
wordlessly, through art. What each collection
strives to emulate is a sense of innocent wonder
exposed to grand spectacles. Her pieces illustrate
a learning trajectory that viewers can immerse
themselves in.
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Biography pg. 5
6. SHANDRA
MCLANE
KILN FORMED
GLASS ARTIST
PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES
Franz Nicolay fnicolay@holderness.org
Director - Edwards Gallery
Catherine Amidon camidon@plymouth.edu
Director -White Mountain Museum
Martin Demaine mdemaine@mit.edu
MIT Computer Science and Artifical Intelligence Laboratory
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Grant Recipient
BicentennialSwedish-AmericanExchangeFund-October2015
Residency
Arctic Circle Sailing Expedition - June 2015
Residency
Tacoma Museum of Glass - November 2014
Finalist
international Bullseye Emerge Competion
Residency Recipient
Frans Masareel Residency, Belgium
Scholarship Recipient
Pilchuck Glass School
M.ED., Integrated Art & Education Plymouth State University
Plymouth, New Hampshire 2010
Rhode Island School of Design
Providence, Rhode Island 2010
Blackburn Print Studio
NewYork, NewYork 2008
Pilchuck Glass School
Stanwood,Washington 1994
Cleveland Institute of Art
Cleveland, Ohio 1994
B.F.A. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California 1993
GETINTOUCH
Website
http://www.squamriverstudios.com
Phone
(603)381-5136
Email
shandra@squamriverstudios.com
Guest Lecturer,The Glass Factory
Engineering the Glass Seed
Kosta Boda, Sweden 2015
Guest Lecturer, Dartmouth Thayer School of Engineering
Engineering the Glass Seed
Hanover, New Hampshire 2015
Guest Lecturer, DartmouthThayer School of Engineering
Hanover, New Hampshire 2014
TA for Nathan Sandberg, Corning Museum of Glass
Corning, NewYork 2010
Professor, Art Department, Plymouth State University
Plymouth, New Hampshire 2010, 2000-2005
Printshop Coordinator, Pilchuck Glass School
Stanwood,Washington 2012, 2011, 1999, 1998
Kiln Room Coordinator, Architectural Glass Design
Napa, California 1997
Studio Coordinator, John Lewis Glass Studio
Oakland, California 1993-1996
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 1998 - 2013
Edwards Gallery - Holderness, New Hampshire
McGowan Gallery - Concord, New Hampshire
Pilchuck Glass School Staff Show - Stanwood,Washington
Draper and Maynard Gallery - Plymouth, New Hampshire
Prints of theYear, Franklin Pierce - Concord, New Hampshire
Women Caucus Exhibit, UNH - Durham, New Hampshire
Savoy Glass - San Francisco, California
Savoy Glass, ICFF - NewYork, NewYork
Limn Gallery & Showroom - San Francisco, California
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION &TRAINING
SHANDRA MCLANE CURRICULUM VITAE
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Curriculm Vitae pg. 6
7. SHANDRA MCLANE PORTFOLIO
MCLANE BOWLS
Size: 12” D x 7.5” H
Year: 2010
Kiln formed glass
VARIOUS UNTITLED
Size: 26.5” x 23.5”
Year: 2012
Kiln formed vitreography
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Portfolio pg. 7
8. VARIOUS UNTITLED
Size: 26.5” x 23.5”
Year: 2012
Kiln formed vitreography
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Portfolio pg. 8
9. COMPUTATIONAL ECHOES 1 - 4
(with the origami sculptures of Dr. Erik and Martin Demaine)
Size: 26” x 54”
Year: 2013
Kiln formed vitreography
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Portfolio pg. 9
10. WHITE MOUNTAIN BIRCH
Size: 26.5” x 54”
Year: 2013
Multi-fired enameld kiln formed and vitreography
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Portfolio pg. 10
11. THE LITTLETONTREE
Size: 22” x 7”
Year: 2014
Blown glass sculpture with vitreographic print of Douglas fir tree cell structure
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Portfolio pg. 11
12. ORBS
Size: 10.5” x 16.5”
Year: 2014
3D Casting - 1 of a series of 2 molds for lit glass sculptures
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Portfolio pg. 12
13. SIX BURNERS
Size: 26.5” x 23.5”
Year: 2014
Vitreography and sandblasted glass
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Portfolio pg. 13
14. GLASS SEEDS
Size: Various
Year: 2015
3D kiln formed glass castings
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Portfolio pg. 14
15. The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Portfolio pg. 15
ENGINEERINGTHE GLASS
SEED
+ANINTERDISCIPINARYPROJECTFORCHILDREN
ENGINEERINGTHE GLASS SEED CURRICULUM BOOK COVER
Size: 7 X 7
Year: 2015
16. The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Portfolio pg. 16
PROTOTYPES FORTHE ARCTIC OCEAN SERIES
Size: Various
Year: 2015
17. PROJECTED BUDGET
The financial plan for the Oceans in Relief project is as follows
(this includes portions of the project that have already been underwritten and for which I am not
seeking funding.)
ARCTIC OCEAN - JUNE 2015 $8,000.00 PAID/PERSONAL
Expedition: ArcticCircle.org
Instruction: Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering
PACIFIC OCEAN - NOVEMBER 2015 $1500.00 PAID/SWEDISH AMERICAN EXCHANGE
Expedition: Pacific Northwest
Instruction: Museum of Glass, Tacoma
ATLANTIC OCEAN $ 500.00 PAID/SWEDISH AMERICAN EXCHANGE
Expedition: New England Coast
Instruction: Museum of Fine Art Boston (pending)
SOUTHERN OCEAN $9500.00
Expedition: National Geographic Expediation
Instruction: To Be Determined
Expedition: Personally guided
Instruction: To Be Determined
INDIAN OCEAN $10000.00
ADDITIONAL EXPENSES $5500.00
Materials: Glass, plaster, silicone, clay, kiln shelf paper
Studio Expenses: Kiln, cold working equipment, sandblasting
Time/Labor, Research and Design
Graphic design of journals and video presentations for exhibition
Glass series crated and shipped to final destination
The Explorers Club Artist - In - Exploration | Shandra McLane - Budget pg. 17
