Biography

Sherry Karver was born and raised in Chicago, IL, and lives in California with her husband poet/novelist Jerry Ratch. She received her B.A. in Sociology from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, and her M.F.A in ceramics from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA.

Sherry taught college level ceramics for many years while her own work evolved into the photo-based mixed media painting and photography she does now.

She has had over twenty-five solo exhibitions including the Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA, The Morris Graves Museum, Eureka, CA, and the Sasse Museum of Art, Pomona, CA, to mention just a few. Her work is in over 180 private, corporate, and museum collections including: The Crocker Museum, Sacramento, CA, Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA, Santa Cruz Museum of Art, Santa Cruz, CA, and Delta Airline, JFK, NY.

Threads of Coexistence, Detail of text, 2025

Sherry's work has been featured in numerous magazines: Visual Art Journal, What Women Create, Carpazine, Lilith, Art Talk Magazine, The Woven Tale Press, ArtReveal Magazine, Digging Press, and many others.

Artist Statement

I am not a 'traditional' photographer or painter. My series Identity and Perception pushes the boundaries of photography by combining it with oil paint for all the color, narrative text, and resin surface on wood panels. This creates a unique hybrid that confronts today's individual and societal issues: alienation, loneliness, loss of identity, self-image, and how we view others.

These mixed media, photo-based works originate from photographs I take on city streets in New York, New Orleans, Paris, Milan, and in iconic buildings such as Grand Central Terminal, in NY. These are one-of-a-kind works on wood panels, (not photo editions).

River Of Continuity, 2024, Photo images, Oil, Text, Resin surface on wood panel, 101cm x 60cm

I write fictional text over some of the figures to personalize people, and make them stand out from the crowd since we each have a unique story. These made up narratives are based solely on one's appearance or stance.

In Search of Truth and Laughter, 2023, 101cm x55cm

By using text in my work it adds another layer, and gives the viewer a chance to “experience” the artwork, and become part of my process by reading it. The figures are caught in movement, conveying our individual journeys where we are all "collectively alone". We are individuals yet we navigate as part of an entire society.

https://www.sherrykarver.com
Instagram @sherrykarver