Artist Profile: Sherry Kleinman

Sherry Davis Kleinman

Pacific Palisades, CA

www.sherrykleinman.com

1.  Describe your signature style in 5 words:  figurative, realistic, narrative, painted, drawn

2.  Do you ever work in another medium and, if so, what is it and what appeals to you about it?  I have tried many arts and crafts over my lifetime.  I work weekly in a mixed media figurative workshop.  I love translating the human form.  Faces have fascinated me since I was a child.  I love the challenge of "seeing" what  is in front of me and interpreting it.  Working with textiles combined with drawing and painting has provided me my most inspirational moments.  

 

3.  What's coming up for you in your artistic world? I am in the "pondering and planning" stages right now for a large piece due for an invitational exhibit early next year.  I have work currently traveling with SAQA traveling Exhibits:  Text Messages, Color Wheel of Emotions, and People and Portraits (I am a featured artist in Martha Sielman's book of the same name).

 

4.  Do you have any studio rituals?  I work on more than one project at a time (some times 3 or 4!)  Moving from one piece in progress to the other keeps my mind open and creative.  I can return refreshed to a project that I may have been stuck on, seeing it in a new light.

5.  Who has inspired you on your artistic journey?  My long time fine art drawing and painting teacher David Limrite.  He is a master teacher who encourages me to explore, see, and create in new ways that challenge me to grow as an artist.

6.  What are the 5 essential things in your studio that you cannot live without?  Sewing machine, textiles, computer and iPad, threads, and books.  Hard to limit answer to 5, as I could go on and on.

 

7.  What is on your design table right now?  As a new grandmother to a 7 month old granddaughter and a 5 month old grandson, my recent passions have involved making baby things.  (Lucky me!)  Currently next to an unfinished teddy bear are sketches of figures painted on canvas.  The figures are waiting on design wall for my inspiration to tell a story with them. 

8.  How do you juggle your artistic life, family, friends, etc?  With a retired husband who adores golf and tennis and 3 adult daughters, (married and with families of their own), I am pretty much in my studio most of the time.  Even with new babysitting duties I am constantly thinking of what I can create next.

9.  Do you have any studio companions (human or otherwise)?  My big black shaggy dog Mac (imagine a large body/short legs like a Bassett Hound) sleeps by my side when I am at my sewing machine or computer.  He is a very patient and non critical companion. 

 

10.  What was the biggest challenge in creating your piece for Reflections?  I chose to do more hand stitching than machine stitching; creating a perfect way to "reflect" and slow down as I worked.  Unfortunately some of my body parts (elbow and hand) objected to the hours of stitching!