Sara Shepherd / LJWorld.com

Staff

Sara Shepherd (Reporter)

Sara Shepherd is the Lawrence Journal-World's features reporter, covering food, arts, lifestyle and culture. Prior to joining the Journal-World staff, Sara was the news editor and city reporter for The Shawnee Dispatch. She previously spent five years as a reporter at The Kansas City Star, covering primarily crime and courts, as well as Johnson County schools and city government. Sara is an Emporia, Kan., native and — proud! — fourth-generation Kansas University graduate. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/KCSSara.

Recent stories

When furniture turned into art: Wendell Castle’s KU connection: Sculptor called father of art furniture movement returns to KU for honorary degree; By Sara Shepherd; May 19, 2013; It was around 1960 when a Kansas University sculpture student named Wendell Castle started work on a “strange, hybrid object” that defied established artistic definitions — even if no one else but Castle knew it yet.
Off the Beaten Plate: Menudo at Tres Mexicanos: By Sara Shepherd; May 16, 2013; The Tres Mexicanos menu describes this simply as “Special Mexican Soup.” It’s so special, in fact, that you can only get it on weekends, and not many — if any? — other Mexican restaurants in town serve it. By Sara Shepherd
Film screening revisits former Lawrence photographer’s project, ‘Revealed’: By Sara Shepherd; May 16, 2013; In the seven years since its first subjects were photographed in Lawrence, Scott Indermaur’s “Revealed” project has developed a resume spanning multiple states and artistic media. The project will have a homecoming of sorts this weekend, with a film screening at Unity Church. By Sara Shepherd
The java experiment: Downtown resident opens Alchemy Coffee at 19th and Massachusetts: By Sara Shepherd; May 16, 2013; To see Benjamin Farmer at work is to know why he named his new coffee shop “Alchemy.” By Sara Shepherd
Beer and food — a hoppy couple: Craft beer movement creates flavorful, complex brews that make food taste even better; By Sara Shepherd; May 15, 2013; The craft beer movement — being celebrated this week during American Craft Beer Week — is creating new, flavorful and multidimensional brews every day.
$1 million gift will enable professorship in geology at KU: Donor’s husband pursued successful career in geology inspired by undergraduate teacher; By Sara Shepherd; May 14, 2013; Hubert “Hub” Hall didn’t always dream of a career in geology. It wasn’t until he enrolled in the class taught by a particularly inspiring Kansas University geology professor that Hall knew the field was for him. KU announced this week that Hall’s widow Kathleen Hall has made a $1 million leadership gift to establish a professorship in geology at the school. By Sara Shepherd
Off the Beaten Plate: Peanut Butter Pie at Intorno: By Sara Shepherd; May 9, 2013; This pie has a gooey ribbon of what could be described as peanut butter ganache (if such a thing exists). That’s only the first layer. By Sara Shepherd
Indian food, fast: New restaurants feed curry cravings on the quick: By Sara Shepherd; May 9, 2013; The Indian food scene along Massachusetts Street isn’t just heating up, it’s speeding up. Downtown Lawrence diners now have four restaurants to satiate Indian cravings, and the three newest are fast-casual or carryout concepts. By Sara Shepherd
Lawrence falls short in bid for national ArtPlace grant: By Sara Shepherd; May 7, 2013; Lawrence fell short in its bid to win a competitive national grant that would have been a major springboard for the city’s creative placemaking efforts, the Lawrence Arts Center learned Monday. By Sara Shepherd
KU student’s art project captures child’s imagination in precious metal: Result is ‘Elepot,’ an elephant-inspired teapot made of silver; By Sara Shepherd; May 2, 2013; A lumpy, lopsided and anatomically inexact animal sculpted by a child in modeling clay. A shiny, sleek and symmetrical teapot sculpted by an artist in precious metal. Combine these common objects and you have a not-so-common artwork affectionately known as “Elepot.” By Sara Shepherd

Full story list

Recent photos

Menudo at Tres Mexicanos Mexican Grill and Cantina, 1800 E. 23rd St.

Pizza Bianca with morels, Maggie's Farm purple asparagus, fresh spinach, Crescenza cheese and truffle oil was one of the May 14, 2013, lunch specials at Genovese.

Peanut Butter Pie at Intorno, 801 Massachusetts St.

Each child who participated in Eli Gold's "From Their Hands to Mine" project will get a rough aluminum cast of the teapot design he or she created in clay. The casts and the single design that Gold re-created in sterling silver are on display through May 3 at the Lawrence Arts Center.