Annual Drecki Lecture - Luke Shepherd

Luke is a bronze portrait sculptor. His bronzes are in museums, libraries, universities, ships and private collections. His worldwide encounters range from celebrities to political leaders to the wildly eccentric. Capturing their likeness is never straightforward. Luke is also an educator, guiding plastic surgeons in their task to fully restore faces. In this talk he will take us on a fantastical, uplifting journey exploring the perilous inner world of the portrait sculptor. We hear tales of extraordinary clients and his self-guided pathway and headstrong ambition to capture what he sees. Come, let me guide you through the swirling chaos within, the temptations, the lures, and the unwavering pull of the mud, the raw clay that births my creations. I am not just artist, I am craftsman, engineer, tradesman, and educator. I am driven by the desire to capture the fleeting essence of life, to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, to leave my mark on the world, one bronze portrait at a time. I am sculptor, seeker, storyteller, forever bound to the mud and the tantalizing whispers of the muse.