Laurie Shepherd is an artist, author, and educator. Born and raised in the Minneapolis area, she has both a degree in art and a Master's degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota.

As a young adult, Ms. Shepherd applied her life-long love of sculpture to the task of building a log home in northern Minnesota. She peeled the logs, notched the corners with a hatchet and chisel, and pressed cement chinking between each log, molding and forming it with her hands. Ms. Shepherd wrote about the experience of building the cabin in A DREAMER’S LOG CABIN (Dembner Books, 1981). Since moving into the cabin and writing a book about it, she has continued to live in the home that bears the marks of her draw knife and the prints of her palms and fingers.

Ms. Shepherd’s sculptures are inspired by the rustic setting of her log cabin home, and by her studies of Native American cultures, travels throughout the western United States, extended wilderness backpacking and canoe trips, and mountain climbing expeditions. In her current work of limited edition bronzes, she creates individuals that are honest and believable. They are predominantly strong, self-sufficient people from earlier periods of American history. Her focus artistically is to make each figure a unique individual, evoking the personality, emotions, and soul that bring the figure to life.

JURIED EXHIBITIONS AND SHOWS:

• 1996 Art With a Message Show, Chisholm, MN (1st prize in sculpture)
• 1997 Phippen Western Art show, Prescott, AZ
• 1997 Wildlife, Western, & Americana Art Exhibit & Sale, Minneapolis, MN
• 1997 Northern Women’s Art Collective, Duluth Art Institute, Duluth, MN
• 1998 One-Woman Show, Beyond Words Gallery, Prescott, AZ
• 1998 Watertown Western and Wildlife Show, Watertown, SD
• 1999 Watertown Western and Wildlife Show, Watertown, SD
• 1999 One-Woman Show, Mississippi Riverboat Art Exhibit, Wabasha, MN
• 2000 Loveland Invitational Sculpture Show, Loveland, CO
• 2002 One-Woman Show, MacRostie Art Center, Grand Rapids, MN

COMMISSIONS:

• Life-size bronze sculptures, Baby Gumm, Young Judy, and Judy in Concert, for the Judy Garland Children’s Museum outdoor garden, with permission from the Judy Garland family, pending funding.

SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS

• 2002 Finalist for "Clayton, Jackson, McGuie" memorial design, Duluth, Minnesota
• 1986 Featured in "American Dreamer" series, LIFE Magazine.
• 1983 Featured in "Outstanding Young Americans" issue, ESQUIRE Magazine.