Mike Shaffer, works at his studio in Frederick County, Maryland. He is a graduate of the Univeristy of Maryland and holds an M.S. degree from Southern Illinois University where his career in art began. He has traveled extensively to art museums and centers in the United States and has recently studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He is active in several arts organizations and serves as President of the Hyattstown Mill Arts Project, a nonprofit arts and cultural center in Montgomery County Maryland. He is also president of the Washington Sculptors Group, a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC that promotes sculpture as it relates to sculptors, collectors, and the general public. Recipient of nine awards in art, two from the Baltimore Museum of Art, he has exhibited work in over 100 formal exhibitions in the U.S.