Interview: Claire Sherwood
Claire Sherwood is an interdisciplinary artist interested in investigating the boundaries between nature and our human desire to extract from it. Her work ranges from large scale sculpture to intimate hand held objects. Sherwood received her M.F.A. from University of Maryland as a David C Driskell fellowship recipient and a BFA in Sculpture and Ceramics from Bowling Green State University. She has exhibited her work nationally in institutions such as U.S. Smithsonian National Botanic Garden, the Corcoran Museum of Art (Washington DC), Grounds for Sculpture (Hamilton NJ), and has presented her work in solo exhibitions at Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (Wilmington DE), CANO Gallery (Oneonta, NY) University of West Virginia (Morgantown, WV), Arlington Arts Center (Arlington, VA). Sherwood has been awarded residencies at the Elizabeth Murray Residency, SUNY Jamestown Community College, The Walkaway House (North Adams, MA) and The Vermont Studio Center (Johnston, VT) . She has received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, Ohio River Border Initiative Grant, Marshall University, University of Maryland and the State University of New York at Jamestown. She currently resides in upstate New York where she teaches art at Robert C. Parker School; an independent progressive day school.
Install view of “Another Nature”
PP: Walk us through a typical day in your studio or generally through your process to make new work.
CS: I begin a new piece first by manipulating and shaping a reclaimed piece(s) of cardboard or packaging material. If I am looking to create a very specific form, occasionally I will purchase new wood, or polystyrene, but 9 times out of 10 a new piece grows from a piece of “trash” or recycling I find suitable to work with. Once the base structure is constructed it’s a matter of transforming the material into its new state. I use a variety of materials (maily paper pulp and plaster) to construct layer upon layer manipulating the color and surface as I go. I don’t always have a specific color in mind when beginning this process so the finishing is usually the longest part of my process.
Studio view
PP: What motivates you to make art?
CS: Motivation feels like a complicated word lately. Most days, for me, making art is done more through determination or stubbornness than “motivation”. I make and build things in the studio because it makes me feel like the closest version of myself I can be. But I have a full time day job teaching art and am a mother to two busy teenagers who don’t drive yet. Studio practice has to be a priority and scheduled- and sometimes the truth is I’m not always motivated to create; but I’ve learned I can always be disciplined and determined to get that idea into the physical world and that motivation usually follows the actual physical labor of working for me.
PP: What are ways you support other artists?
CS: I think it’s extremely important to support other artists. Showing up to their openings, visiting each other's studios for feedback, or just going to openings together so you're not standing alone awkwardly at a cheese plate, are all small things that make a big difference (to me anyway), so I purposely try and support artist colleagues in the same way. I also make it a point to support artist fundraisers or purchase from small sales of artist friends and collect affordable work when my budget allows.
Sculptures from “Another Nature” series
PP: What challenges have you faced as an artist and how do you overcome them?
CS: My biggest challenge consistently is time. No matter the time of year, finding the time that it takes to pursue a full time art career while working a full time job and raising a family is, I’m not going to lie, difficult. I have seasons where I am more disciplined than others and I am just now trying to learn how to be more forgiving and gentle on myself. If I can’t get into the studio one evening because I’m exhausted or have to drive my kids somewhere, it’s OK. The work and ideas are there, they will show up for me when I can show up for them.
PP: What is your favorite medium and why?
CS: My favorite medium can vary, I really just love the challenge of building things, when I look back through my portfolio over the last 20 years I can see how my work ebbs and flows with what resources I have available. When I have access to a larger shop and tools I love working larger, and heavier. When my access to tools and time is limited my work shifts in scale and material. I work with everything from clay to cardboard, from steel to wood, I simply love building in space. Having work exist in a space alongside the viewer; for me, it creates a special relationship between body and the artwork that I continually am drawn to. So as long as I can build with it, it’s a usable medium for me!
To learn more about Claire’s work, see her instagram and website.