Meet Steve Sherrell of Steve Sherrell Arts in Western Suburbs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Sherrell.

Steve, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a career artist from the Chicago school of art. I was raised in Indiana but moved to the Chicago area to finish my education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a BFA and MFA in Painting and Drawing. My early influence was my father who was a painter and window dresser for a large department store. As a boy, I was exposed to Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, Pop Art and American Realism. My training at the School of the Art Institute was with Ray Yoshida and Whitney Halsted, who introduced me to studio practices that I have utilized since I graduated. I am Professor Emeritus of Art at Joliet Junior College.

One very important influence was Jonathon Borofsky, who directed me to follow my curiosity and do everything I felt was right at the time; a philosophy which has guided me throughout my career. Philosophically, I have always felt that a painting or drawing must have above all things, content. Subject matter and visual elements should always lead the viewer to an internal discussion, one that can carry on through many viewings. Because my philosophy is one of exploration, experimentation, and discovery, I have learned to master the many different media of two-dimensional art including digital creation and the digital enhancement of old school techniques.

Until recently, I was represented by 33 Contemporary Gallery in Chicago. I showed with Sergio Gomez at 33 for 10 years but have shown at many prominent Chicago, national and international venues. I am a career artist, a seasoned veteran of the tough Chicago art world but there will always be a sense of play to anything I do. Having said that, mixed in is an attempt to get at the heart of questions that matter to us in the 21st century. My goal as an artist creates art based on my inner dialogue while trying to keep it relevant within the current zeitgeist.

I am currently the Gallery Committee director at Water Street Studios in Batavia, Illinois and a member of Water Street Studios Artist’s Collective.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wish that road would have been smooth! I raised two children as a starving artist!

When I left my hometown as a young artist, I came to Wheaton, Illinois with a wife and a child, determined to finish school at the School of the Art Institute. I had gone to Ball State University, but they were not really much help. I needed a different teacher. I had a problem: I had no money. We struggled, both taking jobs to make ends meet, my wife Sally beginning a career at the Wheaton Water Division. I worked part-time jobs and went to college.

I wouldn’t have been able to afford SAIC for long, but one of my large paintings was recognized in the 1976 Chicago and Vicinity show at the Art Institute which provided me the money I need to keep in school.

After college, I did various things including cleaning restaurants, driving a school bus. etc. until I got an adjunct job teaching. I was hired full time by Joliet Junior College in 1996, 18 years after leaving college. My daughter always says she grew up in the hood. We lived in Aurora Illinois for 16 years. I now live in a home with a large studio in a river. I am blessed.

Steve Sherrell Arts – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am an artist. I studied painting but I also draw and make art with the computer. I have been painting since 1968 and making digital work since 1992 when I began working on an Amiga computer.

I am known as the guy who is all over the place. My creativity is very active. I get new ideas all the time and follow them, so my work changes frequently. Those who know me understand that there is a current that is always flowing, but the surface seems to change a lot. It has been both a curse and a blessing. Because I tend to surprise people with what I do I get a lot of offers to exhibit, which I relish.

My tendency to explore rather than produce used to be a problem, but I was just ahead of the curve. Now, exploration is considered necessary. I don’t let myself get bored. If it starts getting droll, I move on to something more interesting.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment came at the Chicago and Vicinity Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1976.

I had moved to Chicago from Muncie. Indiana a few years before. I come from an artistic family but growing up I didn’t show any signs that I was going to be an artist. I was ‘a lost boy’.

My father painted and had been encouraged by the Ball family, the owners of Ball Corporation, makers of Ball Jars. They were art collectors and saw potential in my father helping him with his career. He worked for them in their Muncie department store (Ball Stores) doing display windows and visual merchandising.

When I was nineteen years old, I had an epiphany about art and knew that I was an artist and knew I would be for the rest of my life. He was proud but he worked in a department store. He couldn’t afford to help his married son go to college, particularly the Art Institute which was expensive, even in those days.

I had made a large painting with free tempera paint that I had found at school in a cabinet. I called it “Ragged Claws, Water Breath”. I entered it in in the Vicinity Show hoping against hope I would get accepted. It was summer and I received a letter saying I had gotten in. This was the largest competition in the Midwest at the time and had hundreds of entries. I didn’t know what to expect.

My father wanted to come for the opening so he came up from Indiana and we drove down to the Institute with my wife and my stepmother. The show was in Ryerson Hall on the first floor on the bridge where the Armour used to be. It took up the whole hall. When we walked in my painting was on the front wall of them in the first large room facing the entry hanging between a large painting by Harry Boras, a well known Chicago artist and John Miller, a Professor at the School of the Art Institute. I couldn’t believe it. My father was blown away. We both knew what an honor it was.

When school started, I was told to come to the registration office where they had me sign papers giving me a full ride tuition scholarship and enrolled in 3 days a week of painting classes. Without that scholarship, I probably would have run out of chances to finish college.

Pricing:

• My artwork sells for between $250 and $500000, but I have large pieces valued at $15,000 and up.

Contact Info:

• Address: Steve Sherrell Arts
  Van Emmon Rd
  Yorkville, IL 60560
• Website: http://www.stevesherrell.com
• Email: ssherrel69@gmail.com
• Other: Represented by ACS Gallery – https://www.artsy.net/acs-gallery

Image Credit:
Davis Wensel

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