The Human Experience Project

The Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley presents “The Human Experience Project,” featuring large-scale oil mixed-media works by artist and philosopher Katy Shepard. The project is on view in the Edna B. Love Gallery at the center, 21 West Main St., Pulaski, from Friday, Oct. 18 through Saturday, Nov. 23.

The opening reception is Thursday, October 24, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the center. Artist and curator remarks will take place at 7 p.m. Light refreshments and a cash bar serving wine and beer will be available. The reception is open to the public.

Savannah Penven, the center’s program manager and curator, states, “Shepard’s process of intuitively translating audio narratives into visual works in ‘The Human Experience Project’ series offers a compelling investigation into the boundaries of empathy.”

Shepard (she/they) is a professor of philosophy at Radford University and has spent the past 14 years living intermittently in the New River Valley, studying and working at the intersection of existentialist ethics and the arts. The content of her studio practices aligns with her research on participation in the creative process as a radical act of humanity, activism, and liberation.

Additionally, Shepard is the owner and operator of “Scallywag Letterpress,” an artisan business offering unique prints, paintings, and handmade paper for purchase. Shepard is often at local art markets around the New River Valley and the surrounding areas.