Shepherd Barrett
Shepherd M. Barrett (born c. December 6, 1889) was an American African American artist from Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. Over the course of a more than fifty year artistic career he created in excess of 225 sculptures. His medium of choice was carved wood, more particularly peach stone carvings. These sculptures were created using a variety of instruments such as knives, picks and needle sized manually operated drills and with such practiced skill that a work might be created in as little as two hours. Despite their diminutive size, his works were detailed, such as monkeys with facial expressions , fingers and toes. In addition to his work as a peach stone carver, for which he was featured in the May 1962 edition of Ebony Magazine, Barrett also was a more general artist, and was a player of the violin, cello and viola. His hobbies included being a magician and ventriloquist. He worked as a fireman in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania from approximately 1953 to 1962. He died in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in 1967. Sources. “Peach Stone Carver”, "Ebony Magazine", May 1962