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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 |