Member Biography

ARTIST STATEMENT

"With each painting, I have some simple goals—I want to make sure the basic structure has strong design elements, I challenge myself to try something new, and I tell a story, both about the origin of the work and with the piece itself.

Both Jeanne Dobie and Tony Couch have strongly influenced my work, and I use an abbreviated check list of interesting shapes and edges, strong value, and pure pigments with each piece. I try to do something different, in terms of design, a different vision, or a new technique.

Since 2008, when my work took a more contemporary turn, I now paint in two distinct styles. Each one complements the other. My newer style is more of a challenge from a design standpoint; this motivates me to be creative with each new idea.  Since the execution is very graphic, the challenge to be very precise is markedly different from the way I paint in my more traditional style.

When teaching workshops, classes, and painting in plein air, I paint using my traditional way. But I have found that I paint looser, freer because of the preciseness of my contemporary style.  Both ways of painting challenge me; I am more relaxed painting in my original traditional style, and the challenge of coming up with a creative design keeps me going back to my contemporary work.

My chosen vehicle of inspiration, watercolor, seems to be adaptable to both styles. My love of clean, clear color and the inherent challenge of the media itself have kept me at a fascination level since 1985, when I revisited the media with three almost grown children. And each brushstroke of color rekindles my fascination with it."

SELECTED JURIED EXHIBITIONS:

2010

• NWWS Open Show, Seattle Convention Center, "Poppy Field" chosen for catalog cover
• Inaugural Signature American Watercolor Exhibition, Fallbrook, CA
• Seattle CoArts Annual Show
  

2000-2009

• 2009 - Seattle CoArts Annual Show, Honorable Mention for "Gondola Serenade"
• 2008 - NWWS Waterworks Show, Bellevue, WA - Golden Award, "Kauai Eel Fisherwomen" chosen for catalog cover
• 2008 - NWWS Open Show, Seattle Center
• 2006 - NWWS Waterworks Show, Bothell, WA
• 2005 - Painting purchased for Pierce Cty Arts & Cultural Commission Collection
• 2005 - Tall Ships Exhibition at the WA State History Museum, Honorable Mention
• 2004 - Solo Invitational Show, Olympic College, Bremerton
• 2004 & 2009 - The Gallery, TCC Faculty Show, Tacoma Comm. College
• 2003 & 2006 - Peninsula Art League Juried Show, Harbor Gallery, Gig Harbor
• 2003 & 2004 - The Gallery, 1st and 2nd Ann'l Juried Art Exhibit, Tacoma Comm. College
• 2001 & 2003 - Edmonds Art Festival Juried Show, Edmonds, WA
• 2001-2006, 08 - Seattle CoArts Annual Show
• 2000 - Western Washington Fair Art Exhibit, 2nd Place
• 2000 - Seattle CoArts Annual Show, Issaquah, WA - Award of Merit, painting chosen for news release

1993 - 1999

• 1999 - Western Washington Fair Art Exhibit
• 1999 - NWWS Waterworks Show, Issaquah, WA
• 1999 - Lacey Street of Dreams, Featured Artist, Lacey, WA
• 1998 - NWWS Waterworks Show, Mercer Island, WA
• 1998 - Western Washington Fair Exhibit, 4th Place Award
• 1998 & 1999 Kirkland summer Festival
• 1993-1998 - Sumner Summer Festival - City Purchase Award in 1997

RECENT TEACHING EXPERIENCE

• Museum of Glass, Center for Contemporary Art, Tacoma Dec 2003 & Aug/Sept 2004 - Artist/Teacher in Residence
• Tacoma Community College, Tacoma, Gig Harbor Campus 1993 to present - Beginning & Intermediate Watercolor
• Home Studio - 1994 to present - Adult & Children's art classes
• Saturday Workshops - 2006-2010 Tacoma, Gig Harbor
• Artists Workshop/Retreat - Feb 2000 - Maui
• Artists Workshop/Retreat - Sept 2001, 04, 08 - Kauai

RECENT JUROR EXPERIENCE

• Western Washington Fair - Juror, Watercolor Exhibit, 2004
• TCC 3rd Annual Open Exhibit, Juror, 2005

MEMBERSHIPS

• Northwest Watercolor Society - 1993 to present, Signature membership, 2008
• Seattle CoArts - 1997 to present
• American Watercolor Society - 2004 to present
• Women Painters of Washington - 2010 to present

See more of Sherri's artwork at her website:

www.sherribails.com

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