UNR Sheppard Exhibition

Sheppard IN Sheppard: An Exhibition of the Work of J. Craig Sheppard
From the Permanent Collection of the Department of Art

July 9 - August 2, 2007
Opening Reception July 12, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

J. Craig and Yolande Sheppard Gallery
University of Nevada, Reno
Church Fine Arts Building

Robert E. Blesse, Curator

"The Sheppard Gallery, Department of Art, University of Nevada, Reno is pleased to announce an exhibition of artwork by J. Craig Sheppard. Sheppard was a Nevada artist and is considered by many to be the father of the university's art department. The work in this exhibition will be drawn exclusively from the Department of Art's permanent collection, and will contain a wide range of Sheppard's work, reflecting varying styles and subjects. It also includes recently donated work.

When Craig Sheppard arrived at the University of Nevada in 1947 he took over an Art Department had offered six classes the previous academic year. As first art department faculty with academic credentials, his job was clear, he was to build a significant art program from the ground up. During his first academic year fourteen classes were offered in studio art and art history. For the next twenty-six years Sheppard would oversee an art department that saw major growth and changes. This included numerous exhibitions and the opening of the Church Fine Arts Building. At the time of his retirement in 1973 the department had eight regular teaching faculty and was offering forty-six classes.

Craig Sheppard was extremely well-known as a Western, regional artist. He painted in both watercolor and oil, executed sumi ink drawings, and also sculpture pieces. His subjects were varied, but the Nevada desert landscape was an important part of his work. Sheppard's styles varied, from the dark, allegorical Dead Horse series, the semi-abstract work done in France, to the sensual dreamlike washes in the post European period. His work reflects different periods of experimentation, contemplation, and questioning. In the later years of his life, this former rodeo cowboy returned almost exclusively to watercolor and the Nevada landscape, filled with his iconic horses and cowboys."

[image: "Rabbit Hole Springs, 1849" from the Special Collections Department on the UNR University of Nevada Art Collection web site]