Bower 9: Sherry Owens and Art Shirer

Sherry Owens and Art Shirer, Learning to Fly, 2023. Photo: Paul Hester.

Sherry Owens and Art Shirer

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Learning to Fly, 2023, steel, wire, acrylic, wood, paint, and chalk

Artist Statement by Art Shirer and Sherry Owens

About The Artist

Sherry Owens and Art Shirer have merged their aesthetic sensibilities on over twenty projects spanning three decades. Recent collaborations include sculptures at White Oak Bayou and Heights Boulevard in Houston, as well as an artist’s residency in Jefferson, Texas and a site-specific installation at the UMLAUF Sculpture Garden & Museum in Austin. Both artists maintain studios in Dallas, Texas. Sherry is a native Texan and received a BFA from Southern Methodist University, Dallas. She is known for her meticulously constructed sculptures made from crepe myrtle trees, as well as large outdoor works in cast bronze and welded steel.  Recent solo exhibitions include the Grace Museum in Abilene and Cris Worley Fine Arts in Dallas. She was also included in Commanding Space: Women Sculptors of Texas, at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas and Built: Sculptural Art from the Permanent Collection, at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, Louisiana. Owens has completed several large public art projects, including at Love Field Airport and the Ben E. Keith Company in Dallas.  Shirer has produced steel sculptures for more than four decades and is known for his kinetic forms and ephemeral site-specific installations incorporating natural elements. A native of Ohio, he has resided in Texas since 1985 and has a BFA from East Carolina University and a MFA from Louisiana Tech University.

Collaborators:

The Net of Meaning: a collected reading by A. Kendra Greene (text)

About The Collaborators:

A. Kendra Greene

A. Kendra Greene is a writer and book artist. Residencies and fellowships over the last year have sent her into the woods of Yaddo, MacDowell, and the University of North Carolina—not to mention four months finding her way in the chaparral of the Dobie Paisano ranch. Her writing has appeared in Atlas Obscura, The Guardian, Freeman’s, and is vended like trading cards from the White Rock Zine Machine for 25 cents a pop. She has composed interactive community-based projects as guest artist at the Nasher Sculpture Center and writer in residence at the Dallas Museum of Art. Her artist books are held in collections as far away as Qatar. Penguin published her first book, The Museum of Whales You Will Never See, in a sea-green ink; it’s about the unbelievable objects and stories of Iceland, and there’s a French translation forthcoming to keep the German edition company.

Work in progress

Sherry Owens & Art Shirer

A Gift From The Bower is presented by DiverseWorks and the Locke Surls Center for Art and Nature @ Splendora Gardens (LSCAN).

9

BOWER

Bower 9: Sherry Owens and Art Shirer

Sherry Owens and Art Shirer, Learning to Fly, 2023. Photo: Paul Hester.

Sherry Owens and Art Shirer

Learning to Fly, 2023, steel, wire, acrylic, wood, paint, and chalk

Artist Statement by Art Shirer and Sherry Owens

Sherry Owens and Art Shirer have merged their aesthetic sensibilities on over twenty projects spanning three decades. Recent collaborations include sculptures at White Oak Bayou and Heights Boulevard in Houston, as well as an artist’s residency in Jefferson, Texas and a site-specific installation at the UMLAUF Sculpture Garden & Museum in Austin. Both artists maintain studios in Dallas, Texas. Sherry is a native Texan and received a BFA from Southern Methodist University, Dallas. She is known for her meticulously constructed sculptures made from crepe myrtle trees, as well as large outdoor works in cast bronze and welded steel.  Recent solo exhibitions include the Grace Museum in Abilene and Cris Worley Fine Arts in Dallas. She was also included in Commanding Space: Women Sculptors of Texas, at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas and Built: Sculptural Art from the Permanent Collection, at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, Louisiana. Owens has completed several large public art projects, including at Love Field Airport and the Ben E. Keith Company in Dallas.  Shirer has produced steel sculptures for more than four decades and is known for his kinetic forms and ephemeral site-specific installations incorporating natural elements. A native of Ohio, he has resided in Texas since 1985 and has a BFA from East Carolina University and a MFA from Louisiana Tech University.

Collaborators:

The Net of Meaning: a collected reading by A. Kendra Greene (text)

A. Kendra Greene

A. Kendra Greene is a writer and book artist. Residencies and fellowships over the last year have sent her into the woods of Yaddo, MacDowell, and the University of North Carolina—not to mention four months finding her way in the chaparral of the Dobie Paisano ranch. Her writing has appeared in Atlas Obscura, The Guardian, Freeman’s, and is vended like trading cards from the White Rock Zine Machine for 25 cents a pop. She has composed interactive community-based projects as guest artist at the Nasher Sculpture Center and writer in residence at the Dallas Museum of Art. Her artist books are held in collections as far away as Qatar. Penguin published her first book, The Museum of Whales You Will Never See, in a sea-green ink; it’s about the unbelievable objects and stories of Iceland, and there’s a French translation forthcoming to keep the German edition company.

Work in progress

Sherry Owens & Art Shirer

A Gift From The Bower is presented by DiverseWorks and the Locke Surls Center for Art and Nature @ Splendora Gardens (LSCAN).