Shane Fero was born in Chicago, IL in 1953 and has been a flameworker for 50 years and maintains a studio next to Penland School in North Carolina. He participates in international symposia and conferences by lecturing and demonstrating. Fero is also an educator and has taught at institutions such at Penland School, Urban Glass, the Pratt Fine Arts Center, the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, the University of Michigan, Eugene Glass School, Espace Verre, Montreal, Quebec, the Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pilchuck Glass School, Bild-Werk, Frauenau, Germany, the International Glass Festival in Stourbridge, UK, Scuola Bubacco, Murano, Italy, Chameleon Studio, Tasmania, Taiwan, China, Australia, Turkey and in Seto, Osaka, and the Niijima Glass Art Center in Japan.