Mary Shaffer (born 1947)[1] is an American artist who has worked primarily with glass since the 1970s.
[6][7] Shaffer has taught at RISD, Wellesley College, and New York University as the Director of the Crafts Program in the 1970s and 1980s.
[8] Shaffer's first experiments were with plate glass slumped over metal bars that were originally intended to be a canvas for painting.
[9] During her time in Providence, RI, Shaffer experimented further to test glass' reaction under various conditions, and how it could be manipulated and combined with other materials.
The early metal forms used were predominantly made using found objects such as discarded nails, spikes, brick, pulleys and wire.