Nina Gladys Shepherd

Nina Shepherd, a painter and etcher, was born on October 21, 1894, in Des Moines, Iowa. She moved with her family to Springfield, Missouri, in the 1900s and later attended Springfield High School and Drury College. At Drury, she was part of an honorary organization of senior women called Skiff. After she graduated from Drury, she started working as a teacher in the Springfield Public Schools, eventually becoming the head of the art department. She worked there for twenty years or more.

Shepherd continued her art studies at the Art Students League in New York, the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. She also studied under Hayley Lever, Robert Weissman, Carl Hockner, Oskar Gross and Adrian Dornbush, where she fine-tuned her craft as a painter and etcher.

She was active in the local arts scene in Springfield as a member of the Ozark Artists Association. She also was a member of the Southern States Art League, and participated in its annual exhibition. She exhibited across Missouri, including the Midwestern Exhibit in Kansas City and the St. Louis Art League’s _Thumb-Box s_hows.

She died in 1987 in Laguna Hills, California, and is buried at Maple Park Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri.