Robin Shepherd is the CEO, president, and chief creative director of The Robin Shepherd Group, which is in the former Duval Medical Society building at the foot of Lomax Street on the river in Riverside. He is also an artist, specializing in printmaking and painting. Born in Liverpool, England, he now resides in Atlantic Beach with his photographer wife, Chrestana Hope and their eight-year-old adopted daughter from China, Yuxing.
When did you start the company?
“October of 1984, it was originally located in a Riverside Avenue warehouse building for eight or nine years, then we moved to our
current location about seven or eight years ago.”
What does your company do?
“It used to be an advertising company that exploded into PR and interactive promotions, strategic marketing, helping companies establish their branding objectives.”
What did you do prior to starting the company?
“I worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation in London, mostly writing programs for children like PBS does in children’s television. I came to Florida in 1973 to work with American public television. I worked in advertising for about five years, and started my own company at the age of 40.”
How did you get your start in public relations?
“I worked for William Cook Advertising for five or six years. I had been involved in marketing in different ways, but I’ve never worked for a large company before.” (Editor’s note: William Cook, now out of business, was once the city’s largest advertising firm with Winn-
Dixie and American Heritage Life Insurance among its clients.)
How long have you been an artist?
“It’s kind of gone in tandem in a sense, I took a master of arts in North Hampton College of Art (in England.) I suppose I’ve always been an artist and somewhat of a reluctant businessman, in the fact that I knew I probably couldn’t make a living as an artist, but I’ve never really stopped being an artist. And running a business creatively, it’s kind of interesting because we have 20-25 creative people, writers and artists that work here and I can still put my input in with that, which is exciting.
Where do you display and sell your artwork?
“At the moment, Push 2 Gallery on Bay Street in the Dyal-Upchuch Building. I’ve exhibited in different museums, and I’ve kind of backed off a little bit over the last five years, but I’m really getting back into it more. I think it’s hard doing dual things, but something has to give and I think the business has sort of won more in the last five years. Now, I’m just really getting back into my own work again.”
Have you sold a lot of paintings?
“Over the years I’ve sold probably 200 or 300 paintings. I used to do commissions but they became a little too much like work, so I don’t do that anymore. I like the freedom of not knowing what I’m doing- basically, I think that is a lot more fun.”
How much do they sell for?
“Between $2,000 and about $20,000.”
Do you use your art skills in the company?
“Yes. I’ve been working in design for probably about 30 years and I consider myself more of a coach than a player. My role is to make my employees a little bit better by debating ideas or heralding ideas.”
How do you find time to run a company and make art?
“Well, it’s a complicated issue. I think one feeds the other. Sometimes you have to do things for clients, creative executions, but at the same time creatively you need to keep yourself fresh. So, sometimes when I go into my studio, I don’t have a mandate, l don’t have a deadline. Exploring and playing helps keep the creative edge. It sort of puts back into you what takes out of you in the job. It’s an outlet.”
What do you like best about being an artist?
“The freedom. It’s a little like being a scientist in that you hope you’re discovering things about images or about yourself.”
What are your plans for the future?
“I want to certainly retain the business because that is a creative outlet and I enjoy that a lot. I think that we’re only on the stepping stones of being great, even though it’s taken us 20 years. I only believe now that we’re really becoming mature as an agency in terms of really doing national quality work. Personally, I would like to exhibit in different parts of the world — not to say that I want to be a world-class artist, I just think it’s exciting when you show art in different countries. It’s much more exciting showing your work in another country where you’re an unknown quantity and they look at your work on the face value rather than any reputation you have.”
What are your goals?
“First of all, I would like to do more things that help people. Recently I helped a young man from Afghanistan who is very talented. I was able to give him some art supplies. It’s a really nice feeling knowing you’re doing something not just from the standpoint of money, but that you understood creativity and you realize that everybody just needs a little help sometimes. My goals are certainly to teach and to help people. They are not monetary goals. I don’t want to become the biggest agency in the world or anything like that. To make a contribution, I think that’s the most important thing.”
-by Carrie Resch