Mark Sheppard’s drawings are displayed in University City’s The Green Center
Clinton Borror
– Staff Writer –
The Green Center in University City, Mo., now houses an exhibit entitled “Mark’s Nature.” The exhibit holds the works of adjunct instructor Mark Sheppard, adjunct fine arts professor at STLCC-Meramec. According to the Green Center’s website, it is “a center for environmental education and the arts.”
The Green Center is a piece of property and a house used for a variety of educational purposes and programs for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and students.
There are volunteer opportunities for all ages including gardening and removal of invasive plant species from the Green Center. There are training opportunities for adults who volunteer to lead classes. The staff of the Green Center is entirely composed of volunteers, with the exception of three paid employees. The Green Center also has temporary art exhibits on display.
The Green Center focuses on education related to wildlife and the outdoors. Sheppard’s artwork that is displayed incorporates elements typically associated with the natural world. With most of his artwork, he incorporates elements associated with the unnatural world into his artwork.
He draws monsters and organisms which could never exist and places them in with his images of wildlife.
“We decided to go with Mark. His whimsical way of showing nature is like a field guide, like in ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles,’” said Joanne Richardson, the head of the arts council for the Green Center.
Two of Sheppard’s works sold during opening night of the exhibit on Feb. 11. One was titled “Rattlesnake Master and Acorn.” Other of Sheppard’s works on display include “Fish House,” “Outhouse Hunters” and “Donkey with a Flower.” There are 25 of Sheppard’s works on display.
“I try to put my work out there. That’s what keeps an artist alive,” Sheppard said.
Proceeds from sales of artwork at the “Mark’s Nature” exhibit will support the Green Center’s youth arts programs.
On the Green Center website, under “Nature and Art Education” if the “Art Exhibits” option is clicked, information about Sheppard can be read and an image of “Fish House” can be seen. It is a black and white image of a fish, much larger than the nearby humanoid figure, with a window in its forehead.
“I like to take ordinary objects and put them out of context,” Sheppard said.
Sheppard has been influenced by several artists.
“I like a lot of the Dutch painters in the 1500s and several illustrators, sometimes in the early 1900s, late 1800s.”
Sheppard designs his own imagery rather than finding the creatures he draws in mythology or from other sources.
“When it comes to my own works, I try to make any my own, and I try not to use influences,” Sheppard said.
Sheppard teaches Drawing II this semester at Meramec. He also teaches at St. Charles Community College. He works as a two-dimensional, representational artist. His artwork shows many unreal beings, but beings recognizable for what they are intended to be. Monsters are relatively clearly shown as monsters. Outhouses on feet chasing hunters are recognizable as outhouses on feet.
“I work with recognizable content in my work. It’s not just complete abstraction,” Sheppard said.
Sheppard’s artwork at the Green Center, “Donkey with a Flower” is an image of a donkey with humanoid hands holding a large flower standing on its hind legs.
“We think Mark has a sense of humor. What is Mark’s nature?” Development Director of the Green Center Andrea Grant said.
Mark’s Nature will close after March 31. The Green Center is open Wednesdays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and by appointment.
“This is education for children. Mark is very, very childlike in a good way,” Richardson said.
