BIOGRAPHY

Sheppard’s concept of design and art changed with her fascination of metals which lead her to metalsmthing. Sheppard turns sterling silver, gold, copper, brass, PVC and other elements into one-of-a-kind, wearable art that is created completely by hand. “What would happen if technology died?” This question is the focus of Sheppard’s work causing her to constantly challenge not only her skills as a metalsmith but her theories on art with functionality. With this idea Sheppard has taking alternative ways to design such as using books on barb wire to inspire forms for chains or looking at machines for mechanical connections. Reusing material is crucial to Sheppard’s process. This helps not only prevent the waste of material but creates another challenge by using what you have, this is why she saves all her scrap metal and melts it down to create more metal. PVC has become a material that Sheppard has recently added to her art, the PVC gives an industrial feel with the visual appearance of bone. Sheppard also oxidizes her jewelry to add to the primitive feel and idea of creating jewelry or art for a post-apocalyptic time period.