Martha preaches the gospel of the power of creativity. A multi-disciplinary artist, Martha’s favorite artforms are the crossover points in the many expressive arts that exist.
As a musician, she is drawn to collaboration with the likes of open-minded genre-free artists such as cellist Mark Dudrow (with whom she is currently offering a series of concerts of Latin music), choosing life-affirming works that can’t help but spark the innate generative creativity of listeners like you. In addition to directing a music concert series through the Questa Creative Council, she works at the best store in Red River, Frye’s Old Town & the Jewelry Lady, is the Taos Community Chorus’s accompanist, and also works part-time as accompanist/collaborative pianist at Adams State University in Alamosa, CO.
As a graphic designer and editor/writer, she has created magazines, exhibition catalogs, newspapers, and poetry books, as well as corporate identity systems and illustrations. She enjoys the problem-solving aspect of this kind of work, of listening to the need presented by clients and exceeding expectations for solutions.
As a fine artists, she writes, directs, and produces shows that incorporate moving image, poetry, dance, visuals, and music, and has been a lively collaborator with creators from all these disciplines in her many years as an artist.
She received a Masters in Studio Art/Graphic Design from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 2007 and a Bachelors of Fine Art from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1980. Training with the community service organization, the Institute of Cultural Affairs, in her teenage years awakened her to the need of methods for building and nurturing community spaces – both internal and external. And she has realized the power of the arts as her own processes matured in community work.
Martha has had a teaching career at the high school and college levels as well, at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, New Hampton School (New Hampshire), UNM-Taos, and Adams State University (CO). She sees her role as as an educator as facilitating the unfolding of her beautiful students’ mysterious pathways to themselves while engendering the powerful idea that there are no mistakes in education, only growth and enjoyment-based learning.
Links to sites with my artwork
A wide spattering of my artwork, music, and writing:
https://fineartamerica.com/art/martha+shepp
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWFV0VgzfGx27P6UnpPH8Tw/videos?
https://www.newhamptonhistory.org/main-street-walking-tour
https://www.taosnews.com/tempo/a-concert-addresses-collective-grief/article_3adc1822-ce50-5d54-a8c1-441c716ce1a0.html
https://questanews.com/author/martha-shepp/
https://www.facebook.com/societyhall/videos/1431181387340755
