DC -- Renwick Gallery -- Exhibit: Michael Sherrill Retrospective:
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Description of Pictures: Michael Sherrill Retrospective
June 28, 2019 – January 5, 2020
In his delicately rendered sculptures in clay, glass, and metal, Michael Sherrill seeks to elicit a sense of wonder from viewers, and to make them see the natural world anew. Sherrill’s most recent work reveals his naturalist’s sensitivity to botanical wonders, especially those outside his studio in the mountains of North Carolina. His floral forms have the allure of Martin Johnson Heade’s passion flower and orchid paintings and the botanical engravings of John James Audubon, aligning his work with a long history of a reverence for nature in American art.
This retrospective, organized by The Mint Museum, illustrates the artist’s evolution over his more than forty-year career. The presentation at SAAM’s Renwick Gallery includes more than seventy-five objects, from Sherrill’s earliest teapots and functional clay vessels to his mixed media sculptures inspired by nature, such as Temple of the Cool Beauty (Yucca) and Yellowstone Rhododendron.
Same Event: Wait! There's more! Because I took too many pictures, photos from this event were divided among the following pages:
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2019_DC_SIRG_Ruffner: DC -- Renwick Gallery -- Exhibit: Ginny Ruffner: Reforestation of the Imagination (45 photos from 2019)
2019_DC_SIRG_Sherrill: DC -- Renwick Gallery -- Exhibit: Michael Sherrill Retrospective (92 photos from 2019)
2019_DC_SIRG_NaturePP_190627: DC -- Renwick Gallery -- Press Preview: Ginny Ruffner: Reforestation of the Imagination and Michael Sherrill Retrospective (24 photos from 2019)
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
SHERR_190627_025.JPG: Michael Sherrill
Retrospective
SHERR_190627_074.JPG: Contemporary Sculpture
Sherrill became interested in what he calls "the humanity of material," the visible residue left by the repetitive interactions between humans and things. This indescribable quality of a material worn by time became a driving force in much of Sherrill's innovation with his materials as he searched for balance and unity between form and color.
Looking back over his advances in glazing, mastery of materials, and innovation in form, Sherrill's technical career could be summarized as a quest to integrate form and surface. Through his carved and polished color clay bodies, Sherrill moved closer to conveying the "humanity of material
SHERR_190627_228.JPG: Michael Sherrill
Retrospective
A masterful craftsman, Michael Sherrill uses clay, metal, and glass to create large, botanically inspired sculpture. His form, technique, and process allow him to translate subtle details found in nature into dramatic objects of beauty. He has invented new tools and processes to render the "humanity of materials." His sculptures draw from botanical imagery of the mountains of North Carolina to connect with the deep emotional and psychological states of humanity.
Sherrill's objects invite the viewer into a state of discovery and wonder. These skillfully wrought, complex natural narratives make Sherrill's work widely admired and collected and his strong connection to place solidifies his position as a quintessential Southern artist.
To provide a sense of the artist's evolution, the exhibition is more or less chronological and organized into four sections: Early Work, Teapots, Studio, and Contemporary Sculpture. The sections are introduced by Michael Sherrill himself, via a series of videos commissioned especially for this exhibition.
Michael Sherrill Retrospective is organized by The Mint Museum. Funding for the exhibition catalogue and national tour is provided by the Windgate Foundation. The presentation at the Renwick Gallery is made possible in part by the James Renwick Alliance.
SHERR_190627_249.JPG: Early Works
Raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, Michael Sherrill moved to the mountains of western North Carolina in 1974, where he began his career as a production potter. In 1976, he became a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and shortly thereafter opened his first pottery in a humble post-and-beam studio called the Potter's House. A single parent of three at the time, Sherrill made and sold pots to support his family.
Sherrill is largely self-taught; his curiosity, ingenuity, sensitivity to form, and connection to place are visible in his earliest works. The artist acquainted himself with ceramics from around the world by poring over pottery books. When he saw a form that he loved, he would make copies until he was satisfied with the results. Like the early nineteenth-century American painters who learned their trade by copying the masters, Sherrill learned by copying works by unknown craftsmen of Korea, China, Japan, Greece, and Central America through images.
Because of this approach, Sherrill combined various ceramic and cultural references to develop his own unique voice. His early works incorporate influences from the nearby Seagrove potters, the pre-digital culture of the early 1980s, the gestural painting of the abstract expressionists, and East Asian aesthetics and processes, including the use of porcelain, landscape paintings, and raku firin
SHERR_190627_281.JPG: Studio
Nestled in a small valley in the town of Bat Cave, North Carolina, is a large, barn-like structure connected to a log cabin by a charming path that winds over a tributary to the nearby Solola Creek. This is Michael Sherrill's studio. Inside, the space is industrial, with machines lining the walls of every room. Over the years the room has acquired character; large fragments of old advertising posters cover one wall, on others paint peels away to reveal a visually satisfying and highly graphic surface -- much like Sherrill's art.
Before YouTube and access to how-to videos, Sherrill was able to envision the work he wanted to make and then invent or acquire the tools, skills, or processes he needed to make that vision a reality. Almost every tool he owns has been modified in some way -- from ribs and wire cutters to extruders -- constantly evolving to meet the artist's needs. These modified tools, it turns out, developed a large following. In 1997, Sherrill founded Mudtools, a line of hand-held ceramic tools produced in the bright color palette for which Sherrill is known. They are bought and sold internationally and today the company supports thirteen employees.
Place and space are an important influence for Sherrill's work. The studio is part laboratory (a place where the artist can test new ideas) and part source of inspiration (a place for collecting and displaying objects and curios accumulated over the years). Seen on the wall behind you an image of Sherrill's studio, capturing the environment the artist created for practicing his craft.
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2019 photos: Equipment this year: I continued to use my Fuji XS-1 cameras but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000.
Trips this year:
a four-day jaunt to Massachusetts (Boston, Stockbridge, and Springfield) to experience rain in another state,
Asheville, NC to visit Dad and his wife Dixie,
four trips to New York City (including the United Nations, Flushing, and the New York Comic-Con), and
my 14th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con (including sites in Utah).
Number of photos taken this year: about 582,000.
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