Shelly is an accomplished artist who has worked in painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography and glass for over 40 yrs. She is a native of Philadelphia PA.
She attended the University of the Arts (Philadelphia College of Art) and later at the Philadelphia Studio School of Art and Design. She studied painting and printmaking and was under the mentorship of Gertrude Shrote.
Shelly has exhibited worldwide with solo shows in New York City, Europe, San Francisco, Los Angeles and throughout Pennsylvania and has received awards for her work in Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture including American Color Print Society Excellence in Printmaking, G. Noble Wagner Award for sculpture.
She is a artist of the MADI Movement (Movimiento, Abstracción, Dimensión, Invención (Movement, Abstraction, Dimension, Invention). and has exhibited at galleries and museums throughout the U. S., and with other MADI artists, in Italy, France and Spain. Her art hangs at the Canadian Consulate in Montreal, at hotels in Paris, in the Suhag collection in Delhi India, and in corporate collections of NBC, RCA, United Airlines among many others and is in the MADI permanent collection.
Her work was selected for the permanent collection of the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
Her rich empowered paintings convey through form, line and color the balance and harmony of the natural world. Since the early nineties, her work has embraced classic abstract expressionism's leanings toward Asian philosophical and esthetic precepts and utilizes elements, full of "controlled abandon," that present a counterpoint to the orderliness of structural elements creating a balance of opposites. The work is richly layered while retaining a sense of space or breath that reaches for the spirit, connecting on an intimate level with complex richness, full of free flowing playful contradictions. The viewer is engaged through the mystery of the process with a skilled sensitivity to light and composition. Her work contains the impact and power of formal integrity and inherently good design.
An art critic wrote about Lependorf’s “Harmonics” series, “Each of these pieces holds language insomuch as are akin to semaphore flags. There is something incredibly ancient here, yet also as if they had just been shot from some distant dimension into our own reality sparkling in their newness.”
Since 2002, Shelly has been immersed in photography and digital printmaking in collaboration with Stan Shire. Their work combines both artist’s unique sensibilities, yet, remains cohesive. They have been shown in numerous galleries and are represented in many corporate and private collections. Shelly is a member of The Leica Society (LHSA)
Stan is Professor Emeritus and former chair of the Photographic Imaging department at Community College of Philadelphia. He has a BFA degree in Photography and Film from the Philadelphia College of Art (University of the Arts) and a Masters degree in Education from Arcadia University. He has studied with Ansel Adams, Ray K. Metzker, Ron Rosenstock, Bert Monroy and John Paul Caponigro.
With Adobe Expert Certification in Photoshop, Stan is the author of the “HandsOn Photoshop: Tutorial Workshops,” book series. His personal work is in the Mamiya Masters of the Medium Gallery (U.K.), Museo Hollander (Fuengirola, Spain), Blue Cross – Corporate Headquarters, Morgan, Lewis and Bockius, and in other private and corporate collections.
Stan is a member of the Leica Society (LHSA)
Lependorf+Shire Collaborative gallery affiliations and exhibitions
2021 Leica Gallery, “Light”. Seattle, WA
2019 Pennsylvania Convention Center, Permanent Collection, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Carrie Haddad Gallery, “Photography”, Hudson, NY
2013 Carrie Haddad Gallery, Summer Exhibition, Hudson, NY
2013 Philadelphia Print Center, Invitational Exhibition
2012 Packard-Reath Gallery, Solo Show, Lewes, DE
2012 Carrie Haddad Gallery, Represented Artists Show, Hudson, NY
2011 Art of the State, Juried Show, Pennsylvania State Museum, Harrisburg, PA, Works on Paper Award
2011 The Emotional Landscape, Carrie Haddad Photographs, Hudson, NY
2010 Intercontinental Hotel, New York City (Commission for public spaces)
2010 Art of the State, Juried Show, Pennsylvania State Museum, Harrisburg, PA
2010 Carrie Haddad Photographs, “P.O.V.”, Hudson, NY
2010 Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2009 National Football League, Upshaw Building, Opening Exhibition and permanent collection – Washington, DC
2009 Carrie Haddad Photography Gallery – Group Show – Hudson, NY
2008 Contemporary Art Fair, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY
2008 Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2008 Sande Webster Gallery, “Water Signs”, Philadelphia, PA
2007 Peninsula Fine Arts Center, “Eastern Light”, Newport News, Virginia
2007 Perkins Center for the Arts,”Photography 26”, Moorestown NJ
2007 CCCA 12th Annual Juried Show, Hudson NY
2007 ArtsWalk – Cannonball Factory Juried Show – Hudson, NY
2006 Sande Webster Gallery, “Horizon Fields”, Philadelphia, PA
2006 Iraqi National Museum, Baghdad Museum Project, International Print Show
2006 Gallery Siano, “Theatre of the Absurd”, Philadelphia, PA
2006 Art at the Airport, “Horizon Fields”, Philadelphia International Airport
2006 Carrie Haddad Gallery, solo show, Hudson NY
2006 Holland Art House, “The Big Picture”, West Chester, PA
2006 Fine Museum, “Continuum”, solo show, San Francisco, CA
2005 Gallery Siano, “Shirokuro”, Philadelphia, PA (December)
2005 JMS Gallery, Solo Show, “Horizon Fields”, Chestnut Hill, PA (November)
2005 Pocketbook Factory Gallery, “Waves of Light”, Hudson, NY
2005 Sande Webster Gallery, “The Art of the Garden”, Philadelphia, PA
2005 Carrie Haddad Gallery, “Theatre of the Absurd,” Hudson, NY
2005 Sande Webster Gallery, Contemporary Photography, Philadelphia, PA
2005 Carrie Haddad Gallery, Bi-annual Group Photography Show, Hudson, NY
2004 Holland Art House, Photography and Metal, West Chester, [PA
Collections
Intercontinental Times Square Hotel, Lobby
National Football League, Corporate Collection, Washington, DC
Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center, New York, NY
Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Philadelphia, PA
Comedy Central, New York, NY
Orrick International
Knott Capital Management, Corporate Headquarters
Blue Cross, Corporate Headquarters
Savannah Partners, Corporate Headquarters, Wilmington, Delaware
Mamiya Masters of the Medium, UK
Museo Hollander, Fuengirola, Spain