Arachnophobia
Artist Statement:
I chose this sculpture to bring beauty into something often feared and discarded, hence the name Arachnophobia (the fear of spiders). I wanted more of a fierce, complex pose that would be more challenging to design and build. This sculpture comprises materials such as metal rods, gears, and railroad spikes.
About Shane Witts
Shane is a second-year metal sculptor student at Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (JWP). He helped create the 2024-2025 JWP sculpture for the Mankato CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour and is working on the 2025-2026 sculpture with his classmates. After work on the team creating last year’s sculpture, he decided to break off and make his own sculpture this year. Although he has made smaller sculptures in class (including a bee, dragon, blades of Chaos, etc.), this is his first effort at creating a large sculpture on his own. Shane makes sculptures because he is interested in how people take metal and create something so complex. He hopes to one day have his own shop so he can make metal sculptures and do woodworking as a hobby or side job.