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SOFA Chicago 2006

Blue Spiral 1 2006

"I want to use the cultural icons in my life to have spiritual conversations and I want fiction and fables to become illustrations of real truth. Using a language of iconography with everything I represent, allows me to see a subject as I imagine God might see them. Constant tactile exlporation stems out of my belief that 'if it is worth looking at, it is worth touching'. While balancing this dialogue between material and subject matter, I am installing synapses between texture and figurative gesture, between color and facial countenance. The surreal environments of my paintings become a more intuitive and satisfying way for me to describe and even connect the characters in each painting. In faith, I am methodical and patient that each painting will reveal something... even to me."

august ardor
as the night falls
all you girls so pretty
black cat blues
bottleneck
breaking down
broken wings
drowning
eddy
egg basket blues
every moment unfound
fat and bald
fireflies
getting out of dodge
hear me
holes in the floor
i miss you
ink around your finger
keep playing
lo-fi
matches
mr. leave-me-be
not a love song
october waltz
pearl in the quicksand
raindance
remains to be seen
riding shotgun
rocking chair
rock 'n' roll queen
silence
slipping away
something holding
something to sing
song for lisa
speak my language
stir crazy
sweet peas
tarzan poopyhead
through my window
the unreal
walk with me
walking on the dotted line
want to go home
what matters
what time could bring
you hit so

here are the works to be available at SOFA chicago this week!

ARTICLES:

"the genealogy of art"


CLIPPINGS:

"'the core' cover"
"'grace center juried exhibit' ad"
"door brochure"
"'hot doors'"
"'unhinged art'"


POSTCARDS:

"'string of lights' card"
"'art about art' card"


POSTERS:

"the doors of asheville"
"resonance 2"
"grace center annual juried exhibit"



MUSIC RELATED:

"gardening at night"

(i thought i'd have a page for unfinished scenarios!)

backtracking on "keeping the faith"

(this is an article that was featured in 'BOLD LIFE MAGAZINE' in 2002.)

The Genealogy of Art

Written By: Jessi Eurich

Father and son artists Michael and Micah Sherrill both agree that the ability and love for art is in the genes. Even had they not been reared in creative homes, each are convinced they would have still discovered the talents within them.

Michael’s father was an inventor who could make something out of nothing, and his half-brother was a very skilled two-dimensional artist. Thus, the nurturing foundation was set to foster creativity in a young Michael. He would dismantle and reconstruct anything he could get his hands on just to figure out how things worked. This miniature Da Vinci then found his niche in art when, at 16, Michael discovered clay. He began making pots, and as they began to sell, he made even more pots. It didn’t take long for Michael to decide this was certainly his medium of choice, and he was beginning to realize it was perhaps possible to make a living doing the very thing he loved. Pots, however, were far from an inspiring subject. Something was missing from his craft. Michael went off to one year of college packed with art courses--the only formal education he received. After college, the objects that gave Michael’s art focus and direction began to come to life. He started creating teapots of all shapes, sizes, and complex patterns of color. One of his finest moments in becoming a full-fledged artist was when he made the “one great leap from the constraints of being a potter to just making art period. Then finding a market…thank God someone was there to buy my art.” Michael’s teapots can now be found in the White House and the Smithsonian, not to mention galleries and homes around the globe. He has taught from Penland to Pratt trying to further fulfill his job as an artist: “to make soul food for our culture”.

Several years ago, Michael built a large, open studio in the mountains near Chimney Rock. The atmosphere was perfect for fostering a new direction in his art. He took an overwhelming cue from the nature surrounding him, and his art bloomed into his most inspiring work to date. His latest piece is entitled “Storm”. It was presented at the reception for Michael Sherrill’s latest honor as Charlotte’s Artist of the Year. The piece represents the branch of a rhododendron in a combination of twisted, black forged steel and delicate, beautifully carved ceramic leaves and buds. He compares his work now to that of Ernest Hemingway: “Visual artists are people who operate in a visual language. I try to operate in a simple and clear language, only with a second depth. I am taking the viewer on a journey with me to see the way I see things. I don’t want my art to be candy…I want it to be approachable and accessible, but also real…”

Michael also believes any artist who is honest can bring something both new and familiar to the world of art, and that’s just what his son does. Micah works his own ground and brings his personality to all the art he creates. His other love is music, which shines through in the production of his art. Whereas Michael is more mechanical and investigative in his methods, Micah is more prone to accept the way things are and to simply create. Michael’s craft reflects careful engineering, and Micah’s shines like a song. Micah’s talent is summed up well by one of his close friends: “His songs are like paintings and his paintings are like songs.”

The beginnings of Micah’s life as an artist are much like his father’s. He is primarily self-taught, with the exception of high school art courses and an apprenticeship with his father. After becoming more than proficient in the clay medium, Micah, too, began to create large quantities of small pots with beautiful layers of glazing. His pots are sold internationally and in galleries all across the United States, but it is in paint that Micah is most happy. Some of the most important lessons Micah learned from his father were integrity, an ever-increasing level of standards, and faith that his passion could be his bread and butter. Once Micah believed enough in his ability to work only as an artist, he turned his full focus to painting. Since that definitive decision, he has had various exhibitions in Hendersonville, Asheville, and Charlotte, along with two shows in the Ukraine. He recently won Best-in-Show at the Blue Spiral Art Contest, which had over 100 entries this year.

Micah describes his art as not necessarily intellectual. He’s busy exploring ideas, textures, colors, and materials rather than trying to save the world or make a profound statement about life. He loves people and he tries to bring himself into the way he sees those people. Often, it is the lonely people that inspire Micah to make art. He feels a sense of purpose creating works about those who seem to have many stories to tell. Also, Micah believes it is human nature for people to create, and he strives to do so, much in the same way his Creator created him.

For his viewer, Micah hopes his art “hits people on a variety of levels, for a variety of reasons—like a good song”. He wants it to appeal on the level of how it’s crafted, what the subject is and why it was used, and the overall mood of the piece. He wishes for some aspect of his work to register with people, to provide some spark of light in these times that are often too dark. Learning from his father before him, Micah has come away not able to understand people who don’t pursue their talents and what’s in their hearts. He cannot justify pursuing anything else but his passion, but he knows this is no easy task: “Art is a muscle—if you don’t use it, you’re out of shape.”

Artist Micah Sherrill blends iconography with a variety of textures to capture poignant moments in time. Often the work is personal – painting family, friends and fellow artists in poses both celebratory and private.

“The subjects I paint often have stories and personal ties to my life,” notes Sherrill. “I enjoy bringing vivacity to unlikely or even awkward visual moments, usually using a photograph - ones that others may overlook or dismiss - as a point of reference when composing a painting.

“Whenever I include tactile elements in a painting, I think if it is worth looking at, then it is worth touching. Even when the painting is flat, there at least remains an illusion of texture to contrast the subject. The colors I choose have a relationship to one another that is emotionally specific for me. I like to have color tension that visually describes a particular feeling – one synonymous with how I feel about the subject.”

BORN:

March 26, 1977 in Fletcher, NC to William Michael Sherrill and Linda Hollis Starnes


EDUCATION:

1999-2002
Ceramic Art Apprenticeship under Michael Sherrill

1993
Painting Major, NC Governor's School West, Salem College, Old Salem, NC

1992
Fine Art Major, “Firespark Arts Program”, Brenau University, Gainesville, GA


SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2008
"Micah Sherrill: A Language of Faces -Portraits + Icons", Fuller Craft, Brockton , MA
"Untitled Exhibit", Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC

2005
“Art About Art”, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC

2004
“String Of Lights: Art About Art”, Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, MA

2003
“Every Moment Unfound”, Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, MA
Solo Exhibit, Grace Center, Asheville, NC
Solo Exhibit, The Evening Muse, Charlotte, NC

1997
Solo Exhibit, Vincent's Ear, Asheville, NC

1995
“Autumn In The Mountains”, Hendersonville, NC


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2008
"Go Figure; the Human Form", Hand In Hand Gallery, Flat Rock NC
Palm Beach 3, Ferrin Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL

2007
Bridge Art Fair, Ferrin Gallery, Miami, FL
Palm Beach 3, Ferrin Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL

2006
Bridge Art Fair, Ferrin Gallery, Miami, FL
SOFA Chicago, Ferrin Gallery, Chicago, IL
SOFA NYC, Ferrin Gallery, New York, NY
Shakerag Exhibition, St. Andrew's-Sewanee, TN
“Back To The Garden”, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC
Palm Beach 3, Ferrin Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL

2005
SOFA Chicago, Ferrin Gallery, Chicago, IL
"The Doors Of Asheville", The Grove Arcade, Asheville, NC
"Portraiture", Ferrin Gallery, Lenox MA
Palm Beach 3, Ferrin Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL

2004
SOFA Chicago, Ferrin Gallery, Chicago, IL
Palm Beach 3, Ferrin Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL

2003
"Resonance 2", Grey Eagle, Asheville, NC
"Annual Juried Exhibit”, Grace Center, Asheville, NC

2002
“For The Birds”, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC
American/Ukrainian Exhibit, Grace Center, Asheville, NC
“Dawn of Friendship”, Pedol Gallery, Kiev, Ukraine
“To Have And To Hold”, Greater Reston Arts Center, Reston, VA

2001
“Dawn of Friendship”, Pedol Gallery, Kiev, Ukraine

1995
Juried Exhibit, 4 Seasons Arts Council, Hendersonville, NC

1993
Juried Exhibit, NCCAT, Cullowhee, NC


AWARDS:

2003
“Best In Show, 'Annual Juried Exhibit'”, Grace Center, Asheville, NC

1995
Scholastics North Carolina Art Education Award
Scholastics Western North Carolina Portfolio Award

1993
Hal Carrick Scholarship


PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:

The Bascom-Louise Gallery, Highlands, NC


RELATED EXPERIENCE:

2006
Lecturer, Shakerag Workshops, St. Andrew's-Sewanee, TN

2000, 2004
Technical Demonstrator, Penland School Of Crafts, NC

1999-2000
Freelance Designer, Coast Lamps

1995
Graphic Designer, Manual Woodworkers And Weavers

1992+
Commissioned Portrait Artist


CURRENT GALLERY REPRESENTATION:

Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC
Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, MA
Hand In Hand Gallery, Flat Rock, NC