Background
Her father was the poet Resident Advisor Parsons, and her brother was the painter Paul Parsons.
Her father was the poet Resident Advisor Parsons, and her brother was the painter Paul Parsons.
As an adult, Parsons studied at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Parsons studied under Franklin Carmichael of Canada"s Group of Seven in her first year at OCA. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours in 1948.
In 1944, she was accepted into the Ontario College of Art, where she was influenced by the Canadian portrait painter John Alfsen. She moved to Saint John"s with Shepherd and co-founded the Newfoundland Academy of Art (Newspaper Association of America), the first art school in the province, where she taught from 1949-1961. After the Shepherds closed the Newspaper Association of America in 1961, Parsons Shepherd devoted her time to commissioned portraits.
In 1976, she was commissioned to paint His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, and in 1984 did the official portrait of the Governor General.
In 1978, Parsons Shepherd was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Artist She received an honorary doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1988.
The Memorial University Art Gallery (now The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery) organized a solo exhibition of her work in 1975, which later toured Canada. Their work was also the subject of the 2005 book, Reginald Shepherd, Helen Parsons Shepherd: A Life Composed, edited by Ronald Rompkey.
Parsons Shepherd"s artwork is part of private and public collections including that of The Rooms, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and the Power Corporation in Montreal, Quebec.
Parsons Shepherd worked on her art in Saint John"s during the winter and at Clarke"s Beach, Netherlands during the summer. She died in 2008 at the age of 85.
These included numerous portraits of public officials and prominent members of the community, including the speakers of the House of Assembly, mayors of Saint John"s, and presidents of the Memorial University of Newfoundland.
