The Ohio Artist Registry (OAR) is an exciting opportunity for artists to share their work, connect with the creative community, and establish an online presence—all on a free, virtual platform! The OAR encourages artists working in all art forms, throughout Ohio and beyond, to create a profile, which allows them to better promote themselves and their work. Being listed in the OAR provides artists with new opportunities to share their work with clients, galleries, patrons, and audiences. A listing in the OAR does not confer an endorsement, approval, or verification by the Ohio Arts Council.
For more information, contact Kathy Signorino, artist programs director, at kathy.signorino@oac.ohio.gov or 614-728-6140.
2025 Ohio Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
Linda Shepard
Linda ShepardMarysville Ohio 43040 United StatesHome 400 W Rich Street Ste 144 842 Edgewater Lane County: Franklin
Columbus Ohio 43215 United States Home Phone: 6147836834 Website: Shepard Art Studio Website: Own Some Art
Bio
Linda Shepard was born in Lancaster, Ohio. She studied fine art and design at Charleston Southern University and Trident Technical College in Charleston, South Carolina. Her formal art training focused heavily on working from life. Figures and low country swamps were favorite muses. Her college experience culminated in a contract with the U.S. Navy to paint a 12’ x 4’ mural of Charleston Harbor.
Her long, successful career straddles the line between fine art and commercial design, including stints as an Art Director for a large, global non-profit and a Creative Director for a Fortune 100 Company. Linda believes advertising, communications, and fine art share a common skill set. The principles of design apply to each, and working in one fuels creativity in all.
She likes to work in larger than most other pastel artists. She often develops her own substrates from stained, sealed, hardwood coated with sanded primer. This unique surface introduces colors and textures hard to achieve any other way. In addition to the sticks most people are familiar with, she relies heavily on stone-shaped pastels. These are constantly reshaping themselves with sharp and blunt edges whose marks mimic irregular, organic textures found in nature. Reductive techniques, scraped with a razor blade or brush, are more common than impasto in her work.
Her work in water-based oils allows her to explore even bigger formats and larger, bolder marks.
Through her work, she hopes to reflect the wonder and simple beauty of Creation. We’re often too busy to really see it. Her paintings invite viewers to pause from the daily struggle of personhood to fleetingly experience the peace of His light.
She currently lives in Marysville, OH with her hairy dog Harry, her other dog Daisy, and her high-school sweetheart/long-time husband, Alan.
Artist Statement
Born and raised in Lancaster Ohio, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t think of myself as an artist. All of us start out like that—ask any young child, they’re all artists! It took on many forms throughout the years as people who loved me tried to steer me in more practical (profitable) directions.
I became a graphic designer after college. In graphic design as in fine art, I strive to tell a story—without extraneous visual clutter for a clear intention. My philosophy is: there’s always more than one way to do something good and ‘right’; expect failure but learn quickly and move on; my first idea is often not my best; don’t fall in love with any single concept; get thick skin; time is valuable; taste is subjective; never stop learning; and be receptive and responsive to feedback.
My preferred subject matter often involves the quietly extraordinary in spaces that almost anyone can access free of charge—public reserves, bodies of water, metro parks, bike trails, cityscapes, nocturnes and forests. I like florals because flowers can re-calibrate our sight from the rigidity of our man-made, utilitarian environments to one of exciting color and organic form.
I work in both dry pastel and oil paint, often from life. Working in two mediums ramps up experimentation and curiosity in both. Every Saturday in warm weather, I can be found with artist friends painting and sharing our work with the public.
