Symbolic Abstractions
- designer044
- May 14
- 3 min read
An Interview with Virginia Shepley by Carrie Leigh Dickey
Drawing from the practice of psychic automatism—a technique used by Surrealist artists to bypass logic and reason and to allow the unconscious to take over, Virginia Shepley's abstract forms and representational motifs reconcile the dualities of life. An abstract painter using line drawing and biomorphic forms as a visual representation of fundamental spiritual ideas, her work explores the connections and borderlines between physical reality and the invisible. Referencing elements of the body and nature, her color palette resonates as mystical vibrational imagery. In addition to abstract paintings on paper with acrylic gouache, Virginia creates jewelry.
Your jewelry business came first. How did that business originate?
In 1990, I decided that I wanted to start a creative business. I love jewelry and working with my hands so assembling jewelry seemed ideal. I had some experience in the fashion industry from working in a buying office for a department store chain. I took a small business course with the local Small Business Administration, got my license and just jumped into the wholesale jewelry business. I really had no idea what I was doing, but I just took one step at a time. I started by selling at one store that took my jewelry on consignment and built from there. I was fortunate that an established jewelry designer liked my work and encouraged me by recommending that I contact her sales rep to represent me. Once I developed my business in California, I was able to expand into other markets like New York, Chicago, and Atlanta.
What was your path from jewelry maker to painter?
I ran my jewelry business for 10 years. My jewelry studio was initially in my apartment in San Franscisco. It was my dream to live as an artist, so in the early 90s, I moved into an artist community in a converted warehouse in Oakland. I made jewelry and took photography classes at the local community college. I even built myself a darkroom. I found that I was most interested in the negatives that were damaged as they produced prints that were abstract and moody. Over time, I realized that photography was simply not the right medium for me and started painting instead. That discovery was life-changing. In the late 90s, trends were not in favor of jewelry – the fashion was bare or tiny and my jewelry was bold and chunky. Jewelry sales were down and the administrative aspects of my business were keeping me from the creative process. I decided to go to art school and closed my business in 1998. I got my MFA in Painting from John F. Kennedy University’s Arts and Consciousness Program in Berkeley in 2001.
Describe your painting style and process.
I have always used my artwork as a way to process things going on in my life. Creative work helps me understand what I am feeling and lifts me from the fog of my mind. My paintings come from a place of deep intention. I aim to create a visual representation of the ideal - or how I want to feel. The paintings are the antidote for my struggles to find a place of inner peace. I ask myself: How it would feel if all of my worries and insecurities were gone? I strive to depict a space of peace and balance where the cosmic order of things shows. Though the works originate from an individual need, they resonate with others as the desire to feel at peace and whole seems to be universal. I call my paintings “symbolic abstractions." I assign symbolic meaning to shapes and colors so the compositions hold meaning for me.
How does your jewelry making influence your paintings and vice versa?
My aesthetic is apparent in both my paintings and jewelry. I am attracted to beads that are in the shapes I use in my artwork. Whatever I am painting will show up in my jewelry too. It’s as if the shapes and colors are determined to come out no matter the medium!
Why do you create?
I create because I have to. It’s how I navigate – it’s almost another sense for me. Something deeper comes through – free from the “should” of the critical mind. For me, art-making is the spiritual practice of opening the channel for light to shine through. I want to bring positive energy into the world.
What fuels your creativity?
Other artist’s work! My old sketchbooks. Digging in the dirt. Walking in nature. Reading.
In 2001, Virginia Shepley got her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting from John F. Kennedy University's Arts and Consciousness program in Berkeley, California. Her work has been shown in solo shows in galleries in California and North Carolina. Her drawings and paintings feature in private collections in both Europe and the United States. Virginia lives and works on a farm in North Carolina.
Comments