Gordon Shepard
Born in New York City in 1930, Gordon Shepard was raised in an
artistic family. He performed and made visual art his entire life. Shepard worked at Creativity Explored’s
second studio from 2000 until his death in December 2011.
Shepard created exclusively representational drawings and
paintings, using acutely accurate perspective and shading, and saturated
colors. From acrobats to clowns to striped tents, the common theme running
through all of his artwork is the circus. Shepard was once a clown in Big John
Strong and Sons Circus. In 2002, he created a sculptural rendition of a
circus sideshow, meticulously executed on 1:12 scale, taking him over a year to
complete.
Shepard was the subject of a documentary film appropriately
titled Clown (2007).