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Shawn Skabelund (MFA, The University of Iowa, 1990) is an artist and curator working in landscapes to reveal their complex issues, ecologies, and cultural histories. For thirty years, he has been a successful site-specific, place-based installation artist, creating over seventy installations throughout the United States, Mexico, and Italy. This summer (2024), he had three solo exhibitions, Their Largeness Passes Through Me (HeArt Box Gallery, Flagstaff); Expanding Home/Place (College of Arts & Letters, Northern Arizona University;) and Convergence (Rock House, Wupatki National Monument). In 2025, he has exhibitions at the University of Wyoming (Laramie) and Western New Mexico University (Silver City). The exhibitions Skabelund has curated have also explored themes that are topical and of grave concern: Beyond the Border: The Wall, the People and the Land looked at migration issues along the U.S./Mexico border; Fires of Change engaged with the topic of catastrophic wildfires in the Southwest; and Hope & Trauma on a Poisoned Land explored uranium mining and its impact on the Diné. All were on view in Flagstaff, AZ, at the Coconino Center for the Arts (the latter was also the first exhibition dedicated to the impact of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation). Skabelund has received five Viola Awards for Excellence in the Visual Arts, Excellence in the Performing Arts, and Innovation in the Arts. An article, Work in Progress with Shawn Skabelund, focusing on his creative process was recently published in Southwest Contemporary.

www.shawnskabelund.com @shawnskabelund