Resume

Şebnem Düzgün (SHEB-nem DUEZ-guen)

 

Experience: Şebnem is a ceramic artist whose work and artistry are deeply intertwined with her identity as both an artist and an internationally recognized mining engineer. Born in Turkey and currently based in Colorado, her life and work reflect an intense relationship with the earth—a relationship that honors its tangible materials and the dynamic systems that shape it. Her ceramic sculptures derive from a background in studying geological formations and earth resources, and examining how these natural forces embody complex human and ecological relationships.

 

A self-taught ceramic artist with an engineering degree and trained by various international ceramic artists, Şebnem began her artistic journey to articulate the unseen forces of transformation—those woven into the fabric of geologic time and the human condition. Her artwork, constructed through a hand-built ceramic process, includes complex textures, biomorphic shapes, and architectural details that convey movement, disruption, and renewal. Each of these sculptures is a convergence of structure and intuition, culled from the tactile universe of earth materials and the visceral terrain of identity and memory.

 

Şebnem's work has been exhibited across the U.S., Germany, and Turkey, garnering numerous awards.  She is an active member of the Colorado art community with ties to half a dozen organizations. She is also a studio artist at the Foothills Art Center in Golden, CO. In addition to her art, Şebnem is a senior faculty member and Fred Banfield Distinguished Chair in Mining Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, where she teaches and conducts research on systems thinking, data science, and AI in geosciences.

 

Past and Upcoming Solo Shows

• November 2026: Plinth Gallery, Denver, CO, USA

• March 2026: Pirate Contemporary Art Gallery, Lakewood, CO, USA

• January 2026: More Hot Rocks, Gallery 931, Denver, CO, USA

• November 2025: Peel Slowly and See, Core Artspace, Lakewood, CO, USA

• October 2025: Hope is a Waking Dream, D`Art 360, Denver, CO, USA

• 2014: Kunst in Durlach, Karlsruhe, Germany

• 2013: Sira Sira Usul Usul, Bayindir Hastanesi, Ankara, Turkey

 

JURIED Exhibitions and Awards

• 2025: Museology, fooLPRoof Contemporary Art Gallery, Denver, CO

• 2025: Artist in the Garden, Core Art Space, Lakewood CO

• 2025: 78th Annual Show (Honorable Mention Award in 3D), Gilpin Arts Association, Central City, CO

• 2025: See it. Feel it. Abstraction Today, Core Art Space, Lakewood CO

• 2025: Mythology & Metamorphosis, The Lab on Santa Fe, Denver, CO

• 2025: Foothills Art Center Member Show, Golden, CO.

• 2025: Core on Colfax, Part 3: Members Show, Core Art Space, Lakewood CO

• 2024:  The Heart of Winter Market, Telluride Arts, Telluride CO

• 2024: Member the Gilpin Arts Association, Central City, CO

• 2024: 77th Annual Show (Honorable Mention Award in 3D), Gilpin Arts Association, Central City, CO

• 2024: Lone Tree Fine Art Expo, Lone Tree Arts Center, Lone Tree, CO

• 2024: The Margins Show, Core Art Space, Lakewood, CO

• 2024: Spot On, A National Show of New and Innovative Work, D’art Gallery, Art District on Sante Fe Drive, Denver, CO

• 2023: Lone Tree Fine Art Expo (2nd Place in Sculpture), Lone Tree Arts Center, Lone Tree, CO

• 2023: All Colorado Art Show, Curtis Center for Art, Greenwood Village, CO