R. L. Shep
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R. L. Shep is the professional name of Robert Lee "Robb" Shep (27 February 1933 - December 21, 2022), an American artist, writer, publisher, textile scholar,
shiatsu ''Shiatsu'' ( ; ) is a form of Japanese bodywork based on concepts in traditional Chinese medicine such as qi meridians. Having been popularized in the twentieth century by Tokujiro Namikoshi (1905–2000), ''shiatsu'' derives from the older ...
practitioner, and member of the Mendocino Healing Community. Shep is best known for known for his first book, Cleaning and Repairing Books: A Practical Home Manual, for his publications on textile arts, dress, and manners, and for his textile-related endowments.


Early life and education

Robert Lee Shep was born in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
to Ruth and Milton Shep, the children of Russian Jewish émigrés. In 1950, Shep graduated from Army and Navy Academy. He received a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
in Dramatic Art from the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
in 1955. Shep continued his education, first at the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...
,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(1955–56), then at the American Institute of Foreign Trade, now Thunderbird School of Global Management, in Glendale,
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
."Robert Lee Shep." ''Who's Who in America'', 59th edition. VIP Number: 00328926. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 2005.''Thunderbird 1961''. Phoenix, AZ: Tyler Printing Company, Year Book Division. p.48.


Career

In 1965, Shep began to sell imported and out-of-print books on costume and textiles. Shep first traveled to
Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
in 1978. In 1981, he took the helm of ''The Textile Booklist''. Between 1983 and 2004, Shep made several trips to
Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...
and
Northeastern India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...
; collecting and studying Bhutanese and Northeastern Indian Naga textiles, particularly from the Maram Naga people, exploring design themes that remain consistent, persisting in the work even as traditions change over time.Naga Textiles with Robb Shep, Meeting Announcement
. Seattle Textile and Rug Society (STARS). Accessed 13 November 2010.

. Seattle Textile and Rug Society (STARS). Accessed 13 November 2011.
On his return to the United States, Shep devoted two issues of ''The Textile Booklist'' to Bhutan (Winter 1984 and Spring 1984) which included illustrated articles. The Seattle Textile and Rug Society sponsored two presentations by Shep, the first (1999) focused on silks from Northeastern India, and the second, Naga textiles, as represented in the ikat collections of Shep and fellow textile scholar Irene Joshi.
Seattle Textile and Rug Society (STARS). Accessed 13 November 2010.
Textiles from the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
and the Mekong Delta represent the core of the Shep collection, which includes some thirty Naga blankets or shawls dating from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s, representing textile development during that period. Other items in the collection date from the early 20th century. This collection was given to the Fowler Museum at
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
. At the end of 2004, the most of the balance of R. L. Shep's collection of antique and contemporary hand-loomed textiles was given to the Mingei Museum in
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
, with some of the Shep collection going to the
Henry Art Gallery The Henry Art Gallery ("The Henry") is a contemporary art museum located on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington. Located on the west edge of the university's campus along 15th Avenue N.E. in the University District, it wa ...
, at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...
.


Professional affiliations

R.L. Shep is an honorary member of the Textile Society of America. He served on the Costume Society of America's national board of directors from 1985 to 1987. Other past professional affiliations include the
United States Institute for Theatre Technology The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) is a membership organization which aims to advance the skills and knowledge of theatre, entertainment and performing arts professionals involved in the areas of design, production and tec ...
, th
Seattle Textile and Rug Society
the Costume Society of
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, The Costume Society of Great Britain, and th
Australian Forum for Textile Art, Ltd.


Publications

In addition to writing Cleaning and Repairing Books, R. L. Shep published books on textile arts, dress, and manners, which archived information from the late 18th century through the early 20th century, in the United States and Great Britain, as resources for theatre. All of those were edited by R.L Shep; some were compendiums of related works, and many included Shep's own notes and articles. According to Shep, his interest in reprinting technical textile books from the 19th century started with the discovery of a copy of Louis Devere's "The Handbook of Practical Cutting on the Centre Point System" and was encouraged by his mentor, New York costumer and clothing pattern archivist Betty Vickery Williams. * * * * Review: Seligman, Kevin L. (1988). Dress 14:89-90 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Periodicals

In 1981 R.L. Shep purchased ''The Textile Booklist'', a longstanding quarterly primarily devoted to lists of books on industrial textiles. He retained the industrial textile listings, but expanded coverage to include lists of new titles on costume and textile arts, adding reviews of some titles, and original articles on related subjects. At the end of 1984, Shep sold the ''Textile Booklist'', which continued for several years under new ownership. From 1996 to 1997, Shep published and edited ''Rags: Quarterly Review of Costume, Clothing & Ethnic Textile Books'', which offered in-depth reviews by textile professionals.


Endowments

R.L. Shep's endowments include a triennial symposium on textiles and dress at the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...
(LACMA), an annual ethnic textiles book award through the Textile Society of America (TSA), and an endowment at the
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
Fowler Museum of Cultural History. In 1998, Shep founded the Triennial R. L. Shep Symposium of Textiles and Dress at LACMA. The first symposium, ''Dress as Transformation: Creating Experience in Theater and Masquerade'', was held in April 1999. The second symposium, ''Miracles & Mischief: Noh and Kyogen Theater in Japan'' was held in December 2002, the first of the symposiums to be held in association with an exhibit and catalog. The third symposium, ''17th Century Textiles & Dress'', was held on 9 April 2005 in association with the exhibit ''Images of Fashion from the Court of Louis XIV''. The fourth symposium, ''Talking Cloth – New Studies on Indonesian Textiles'', was held on 18 October 2008 in association with the exhibit ''Five Centuries of Indonesian Textiles: Selections from the Mary Hunt Kahlenberg Collection'' and catalog It gave participants a "rare opportunity to scrutinize remarkable textiles from India and to reevaluate issues relating to the methodology of the field". The fifth symposium, ''Fashioning a Collection: Vision and Viewpoints'', was held on 15 January 2011 in association with the exhibit ''Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700–1915'', with an exhibition catalog by LACMA Senior Curator and Head, Costume and Textiles Department, Sharon S. Takeda, and Kaye Durland Spilker, Curator, Costume and Textiles Department at LACMA. Since 2000, the annual R. L. Shep Ethnic Textiles Book Award has honored a book in Ethnic Textile studies. The "esteemed" award is a $750 prize funded by an endowment established by R.L. Shep in 2000. It is administered by the Textile Society of America (TSA). The first winner was ''Otag-I Humayun: The Ottoman Imperial Tent Complex'' by Nurhan Atasoy. Since 2003, the R. L. Shep Endowment at the
UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History The Fowler Museum at UCLA, commonly known as The Fowler, and formerly Museum of Cultural History and Fowler Museum of Cultural History, is a museum on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) which explores art and material ...
has supported exhibitions, and publication of the related catalogs. For example, in 2006, the Fowler used Shep Endowment funding for the exhibition ''Material Choices: Refashioning Bast and Leaf Fibers in Asia and the Pacific'' and its catalog,Hamilton, Roy W. and B. Lynne Milgram. Material Choices: Refashioning Bast and Leaf Fibers in Asia and the Pacific. Los Angeles: The Fowler Museum at UCLA (2006). which also received the R.L. Shep Ethnic Textiles Book Award in 2007. In 2010 the R.L. Shep Endowment provided funding for a book and three major exhibits at the Fowler. The first exhibition was ''Meet Me at the Center of the Earth'' by textile and performance artist Nick Cave. Also in 2010, ''Weavers’ Stories from Island Southeast Asia'' presented videos of weavers and
batik Batik is an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a ''ca ...
artists from
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
, and
East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...
, talking about social and economic change, and its relation to the artists' individual artistic choices. The videos were accompanied by textiles created by the artists especially for the exhibit. The third project supported by the Shep Endowment in 2010 was the publication of a book, ''Nini Towok's Spinning Wheel: Cloth and the Cycle of Life in Kerek, Java'' by Rens Heringa, and the concurrent presentation of an exhibit of the same name.Heringa, Rens. ''Nini Towok's Spinning Wheel: Cloth and the Cycle of Life in Kerek, Java''. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History at UCLA with funding assistance from the R.L. Shep Endowment, 2010.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shep, R. L. Living people 1933 births Alumni of RADA American magazine editors American philanthropists American book publishers (people) History of clothing Textile arts University of California, Berkeley alumni American male non-fiction writers