A Life Composed ― Reginald Shepherd & Helen Parsons Shepherd

WINNER OF THE BEST PUBLISHED ATLANTIC BOOK AWARD FOR 2006 PRESENTED BY THE ATLANTIC PUBLISHERS MARKETING ASSOCIATION. This volume celebrates the life and work of Helen and Reginald Shepherd and at the same time assesses their contribution to the visual arts in Newfoundland. It begins with an introduction by Ronald Rompkey to situate the Shepherds in the post-Confederation cultural milieu, followed by a general biographical and historical essay by Peter Gard, who wrote the catalogue for the AGNL exhibition “Helen Parsons Shepherd and Reginald Shepherd: Four Decades” in 1989. Next, jou alist and playwright Joan Sullivan explores through interviews with former students the environment created at the Newfoundland Academy of Art at 51 Cochrane Street. Lisa Moore, a fiction writer who also possesses a degree in visual art from NSCAD, follows with an investigation of the portrait as an art form and Helen Parsons Shepherd’s career as a portraitist. The volume concludes with an essay on early printmaking in Newfoundland and Reginald Shepherd’s work in this medium by Anne Pratt, who has had considerable experience as an art jou alist and critic. These essays constitute approximately half the volume, the remainder consisting of illustrations from the work of both artists.