Old college man had artist making shapes (9)
I believe the answer is:
polyhedra
'shapes' is the definition.
(polyhedron is a kind of shape)
'old college man had artist' is the wordplay.
'old college' becomes 'poly' (polytechnic).
'man' becomes 'he'.
'had' becomes 'd' (I've seen this in other clues).
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'poly'+'he'+'d'+'ra'='POLYHEDRA'
'making' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for polyhedra that I've seen before include "Many-faced bodies" , "Solid shapes" , "Solid figures with many 18s" .)