In her first solo exhibition, Jane Shepherd will hang 24 pieces of work in the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives from this Friday, Sept. 11 until the end of the month. A long-time Jasper resident, Shepherd said the work is based on psychic hits where she has visions of what she should paint next.

“People don’t necessarily understand this,” she explained, “I get these pictures of what I’m supposed to be painting. I feel like I’m getting them from a higher source.”

Shepherd’s been painting for the last 26 years and said, “I used to do scenery, but that gets really boring after 26 years... this is way more exciting.”

“I think we all come in here with a sole purpose and when you’re fulfilling that purpose you have a strong sense of excitement,” she added.

The exhibit will feature eight four-by-five foot canvasses she said and are based on grandmothers.

“Grandmother energy in terms of a bigger sense of what native people feel about grandmas,” she said.

According to Shepherd, people are inspired and blown away when they see in the painting and encourage her to get them out into the public.

“The grandmothers are telling me that I need to get these out there for people to see,” she said noting that she’s been to psychics who have said the same thing.

“They said it was going to be... sort of enlightening,” she added.

The works, which are all acrylic on canvas except for one watercolour, have taken Shepherd several years to complete. She said this was mainly because she and her husband moved from Jasper to Valemount where they began building a circular straw bail house which took them about a year-and-a-half to complete.