Reflections Magazine Issue #78 - Spring 2013 | Page 22

Faculty feature

Practical Professor
A

Art Faculty Member
John Wittersheim Left a
Lasting Legacy at SHU
“He just was one of these guys who saw
something that needed to be fixed, so
he fixed it,” Conlon said. “I really learned
that from him. If you see something,
figure out how to fix it, or figure out how
to make it. Even if nobody ever finds out,
you had a blast doing it.”

22

Reflections Spring ’13

n allergic reaction eventually brought John
Wittersheim to Siena Heights, and cancer took him away.
The man who spent 34 years teaching metalsmithing and
sculpture in his “garage-like” studio on campus passed away
March 17 after a long battle with cancer. He was 59.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Michigan
University and his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Wittersheim took a job as a clay modeler
with the Ford Motor Co. However, he had an allergic reaction
to the special clay he was forced to work with at Ford, so he
pursued other career paths.
The path he eventually followed led to Siena Heights,
where he began as a faculty member in 1979. He quickly
established himself with students and colleagues as a versatile, prolific and talented artist. His metalworking specialties
included the creation of plumb bobs, a small, pointed brass
weight on the end of a string used to determine a line perpendicular to a point.
Colleague and friend Bob Conlon said Wittersheim’s
plumb bob creations typified his practical vision of art.
“(Plumb bobs) were so beautiful and artistic, but he’d
like to talk about that they had a function,” said Conlon, an
associate professor of art at SHU.
However, Wittersheim was also known for making musical
instruments, even gaining national notoriety for the guitarbuilding class he taught for several years. In fact, Conlon