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I grew up on the Stanford University campus where my father, Roger Shepard, was a professor in cognitive-experimental psychology. I earned my bachelor's in Engineering-Psychology at Tufts University in Massachusetts and my doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Rutgers University in New Jersey. For the past 20 years I have been treating adults in a private psychology practice in Groton and Pepperell, Massachusetts.
I have always been surrounded by artistic interest and expression. My paternal grandmother was an art major at Stanford University in the 1920s and my 1884 Victorian home is filled with her original watercolor paintings. I fondly recall her always having a needlework, sewing or knitting project in her lap while we visited. My father also has artistic talent, having published a book of his hand-drawn optical illusions called Mind Sights. |
Since childhood, I have dabbled in handcrafts, including knitting, crocheting, photography and 3D paper collage. It is only since 2013, however, that I have pursued my creative interests on nearly a full-time basis. My passion for 3D collage work really ignited when I sat down with my then 13-year-old daughter to decorate Valentine's boxes for each other. We used Vintage ephemera, handmade lace, antique buttons, gold embossed lettering, ribbon, and jewelry to decorate our boxes. I was so pleased with the results, that I bought up all the remaining post-Valentine chocolate boxes at the local CVS store at 75% off! I spent hours playing with materials and decorating various different sized and shaped boxes. I decided to have an open house sale and invite all my friends and acquaintances and from there my etsy.com business, ShenVintageCreations, was launched.
As an avid antique shop, fair and flea-market shopper, I had seen altered dolls (primarily composition heads attached to various tins) and was intrigued by the idea of assembling various different found objects into a cohesive piece. I began to experiment with affixing china doll heads to porcelain sugar bowls, vases, salt shakers, and cut crystal. I also began to make animals from found objects. I will never forget the first time I found a Boston Terrier porcelain-headed 1940s barber brush. I realized I could remove the head and connect it to an old tin and create a dog. I made "Dicey Spike," a Boston Terrier with a Droste Cocoa Tin who had a steampunk look with a canteen around his neck with little tiny dice inside. I gave him the motto, "He's Daring You to Roll the Dice to See If He's Naughty or Nice." These sculptural assemblage dolls and animals ultimately became my most passionate way of expressing myself. As a psychologist, I naturally see the world in symbolic ways and I find this useful in the design of my sculptural artwork (for example, when I look at an antique footed butter dish, I see the potential for a cow or horse or dog body; when I see a double-handled sugar bowl, I see the torso of a doll with her arms akimbo). I like to bring some whimsy and sense of humor into people's lives, so I have a lot of fun creating quirky characters and names to go with them. When I can, I like to make puns or a play on words (for example, a Day of the Dead sugar skull attached to a coffee tin becomes, "Wakeful Dead." or "Coffee Strong Enough to Wake the Dead.").
Growing up in progressive California, recycling was ingrained in me from an early age. I like the concept of reusing, repurposing and upcycling items that many people would otherwise discard (such as old tins, metal salvage, postcards, salt and pepper shakers, figurines, barber brushes, liquor decanters, jewelry, lace, china, crystal, baubles, old keys, lamp parts, etc.) into a work of art that someone can cherish for years to come. I am making something old look new again.
I also began to create sculptural romantic cake toppers for special occasions, such as Weddings, Bridal Showers, Anniversaries and Birthdays. As a sentimentalist, I like people to be able to have a special, one-of-a-kind, keepsake to remind them of their event. I use figurines that on their own may not catch someone's eye, but once adorned with paper flowers come alive again.
I am so pleased that in the short time that I have been creating art for sale, my art has been published in Just Steampunk! magazine four years in a row, 11 of my items were bought by the Museum of Whimsy, and my work is for sale in 5 different galleries/gift shops across the country. I was particularly excited to have the honor of designing and decorating the 2016 Christmastime window display for the American Folk Art Museum in NYC! For details on the window display, please read my blog and for all achievements, please look at the "Publications, Shows, Galleries" section of my website.
My latest creative endeavor is creating piano arrangements from music that I love! Click here to see my piano arrangements blog page which provides videos of my playing these arrangements.
I live in an 1884 Victorian home in Pepperell, Massachusetts. My husband of 31 years and I fully restored it with true Victorian and Arts and Crafts wallpaper and light fixtures.. It is filled with antiques and objects d'art, which serve as inspiration for my creations . My art studio is on the third floor and is styled like a curiosity shop with antique pieces of furniture filled with and decorated with all the nick knacks that I use in my creations. My interest in Western-style sculptures is due to the fact that my parents retired to Tucson, Arizona and, as a result, my family and I enjoy frequent visits to the Southwest.
As an avid antique shop, fair and flea-market shopper, I had seen altered dolls (primarily composition heads attached to various tins) and was intrigued by the idea of assembling various different found objects into a cohesive piece. I began to experiment with affixing china doll heads to porcelain sugar bowls, vases, salt shakers, and cut crystal. I also began to make animals from found objects. I will never forget the first time I found a Boston Terrier porcelain-headed 1940s barber brush. I realized I could remove the head and connect it to an old tin and create a dog. I made "Dicey Spike," a Boston Terrier with a Droste Cocoa Tin who had a steampunk look with a canteen around his neck with little tiny dice inside. I gave him the motto, "He's Daring You to Roll the Dice to See If He's Naughty or Nice." These sculptural assemblage dolls and animals ultimately became my most passionate way of expressing myself. As a psychologist, I naturally see the world in symbolic ways and I find this useful in the design of my sculptural artwork (for example, when I look at an antique footed butter dish, I see the potential for a cow or horse or dog body; when I see a double-handled sugar bowl, I see the torso of a doll with her arms akimbo). I like to bring some whimsy and sense of humor into people's lives, so I have a lot of fun creating quirky characters and names to go with them. When I can, I like to make puns or a play on words (for example, a Day of the Dead sugar skull attached to a coffee tin becomes, "Wakeful Dead." or "Coffee Strong Enough to Wake the Dead.").
Growing up in progressive California, recycling was ingrained in me from an early age. I like the concept of reusing, repurposing and upcycling items that many people would otherwise discard (such as old tins, metal salvage, postcards, salt and pepper shakers, figurines, barber brushes, liquor decanters, jewelry, lace, china, crystal, baubles, old keys, lamp parts, etc.) into a work of art that someone can cherish for years to come. I am making something old look new again.
I also began to create sculptural romantic cake toppers for special occasions, such as Weddings, Bridal Showers, Anniversaries and Birthdays. As a sentimentalist, I like people to be able to have a special, one-of-a-kind, keepsake to remind them of their event. I use figurines that on their own may not catch someone's eye, but once adorned with paper flowers come alive again.
I am so pleased that in the short time that I have been creating art for sale, my art has been published in Just Steampunk! magazine four years in a row, 11 of my items were bought by the Museum of Whimsy, and my work is for sale in 5 different galleries/gift shops across the country. I was particularly excited to have the honor of designing and decorating the 2016 Christmastime window display for the American Folk Art Museum in NYC! For details on the window display, please read my blog and for all achievements, please look at the "Publications, Shows, Galleries" section of my website.
My latest creative endeavor is creating piano arrangements from music that I love! Click here to see my piano arrangements blog page which provides videos of my playing these arrangements.
I live in an 1884 Victorian home in Pepperell, Massachusetts. My husband of 31 years and I fully restored it with true Victorian and Arts and Crafts wallpaper and light fixtures.. It is filled with antiques and objects d'art, which serve as inspiration for my creations . My art studio is on the third floor and is styled like a curiosity shop with antique pieces of furniture filled with and decorated with all the nick knacks that I use in my creations. My interest in Western-style sculptures is due to the fact that my parents retired to Tucson, Arizona and, as a result, my family and I enjoy frequent visits to the Southwest.
Below are photographs of the two Valentine's boxes my daughter and I made which launched my business, and my first steampunk dog that I named, "Dicey Spike."
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