Shawn HibmaCronan is a Bay Area native who studied sculpture and furniture at the California College of the Arts. He utilizes a range of traditional and cutting edge fabrication processes, to create objects in which no material is disguised and no mechanism is hidden. His work is often meant to be picked up, sat in, climbed on, and rolled around; hopefully providing a memorable experience for the curious. He strives to create iconic artwork that viewers find strikingly novel, yet familiar; with forms that all walks of life could find magnetic and disarming. Ultimately he believes that craft is paramount; that it is important to create lasting objects that are well made and timelessly beautiful, inside and out.
HibmaCronan has exhibited work at the San Francisco International Airport, the Oakland Museum of California Sculpture Court, the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Tokyo, Japan. Has been an Artist-in-Residence at the the Autodesk Pier 9 Workshop and the Oakland Museum of California, among others. He has taught workshops at the Crucible school in Oakland and Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. He has been a member of CCA’s Alumni Mentorship Program and has hosted technique based apprenticeships for emerging artists in his studio in Alameda, California.
In 2023 HibmaCronan completed a large art commission for a new development in Oakland and a series of pieces for private collections in 21 different countries. He and his wife have a newborn daughter and are currently renovating a 117 year old home and art studio in Santa Rosa California.
HibmaCronan served on the Berkeley Art Center’s Board of Directors from 2018 to 2023.