Studio Visit: Virginia Shepley
North Carolina-based artist Virginia Shepley recently completed her residency at the Lucid Art Foundation in Inverness, CA, where she spent three weeks perched atop mountains and surrounded by tall trees on the foundation’s historic and nature-centric property. The Lucid Art Foundation was cofounded by artist Gordon Onlow Ford, artist/scientist Fabria Bogzaran, and philanthropist Robert Anthoine to preserve the legacy for Gordon Onslow Ford and further research the connection between lucid dreaming and modern art.
“The mission of the Lucid Art Foundation is to explore the phenomena of the inner worlds and deep levels of consciousness through visual arts, spontaneous painting, writing, and other means to make visible the otherwise invisible, creating an inclusive way of seeing that is in harmony with the natural world of which we are a part.”
Virginia lived in the Bay Area during her time at John F. Kennedy University where she received a Masters of Fine Arts from the Art and Consciousness program in 2001. This return to the Bay Area has offered her a unique opportunity to reflect on her practice over the past 20 years while simultaneously tapping into the rich environment of the Lucid Art Foundation, which includes art archives, architecture, private studio space, gardens, and ephemera from the previous residents.
While sitting in Virginia’s studio and observing the works created in her time here, she shared how this space allowed her to freely explore impulses and inspirations outside of her typical daily practice. By following these notions rather than sticking to a regimen, she was able to dive more deeply into self reflection and new, emerging segments of her inner creative dialogue.
Her practice typically involves painting abstract, cosmic, and spiritual imagery and can reflect intuitive, sacred experiences and universal consciousness. Organic, geometric symmetry is delicately woven together by webs of color and precise, thin lines. During the residency, unexpected recurring motifs of illuminated crowns, cosmic matrons, and dark waves blended together with her more established imagery of cosmic light sources and representations of infinity. Virginia remained present with these new motifs during the duration of the residency to learn from them and to integrate their personal resonance.
When I view the art of Virginia Shepley it feels regenerative. She is aware of the inherent healing power of art through her personal experience of processing trauma within creative practice. Just as lifeforces big and small can continually regenerate, so too can humans in our own micro and macro ways. Her works remind us of this timeless truth: our ability to heal. I appreciate how Virginia experienced this residency as an opportunity to reflect and restore personally, and to creatively regenerate in new and unknown ways. By inviting inspiration to infuse her process for three weeks, instead of dedicating herself to completing a series of new work as one might often do during a residency, she committed to opening a new chapter of her creativity.
Click here to learn more about Virginia Shepley.
Words and images by Katie Pilgrim.
