Sherry Loehr (Born 1948) is an award-winning Ojai artist who is best known her still-life compositions inspired by nature. She does her work in a unique aesthetic style that she refers to as “Contemporary Realism.” Sherry unexpectedly combines subjects rendered with imaginative backgrounds, and colorful Old Masters classic realism that display a modern sensibility for collage, calligraphy and abstraction. The contrast gives the subject emotional thrusts and energy the painting into a balance between imagination and reality; and the abstract elements act as a foil for the real world’s perfection. Sherry holds a BFA in Art and English from University of Colorado and MA in Art Education from Columbia University. After her graduation, she spent twelve years designing and producing a line of quirky ceramic tableware. In 1990, Sherry shifted her focus to water-media paintings. The artist underpaints with watercolor and then finishes the painting with glazes of transparent acrylic colors. This style has made her to gain considerable recognition.
She’s also found a new way to make the still-life to be endlessly captivating and dramatically engaging as she explores its almost limitless range of exciting patterns, colors and shapes. In 2003, an exhibition of her bird series was displayed in Ventura at the Live Oak Gallery. The birds and plant life she featured are found in Downtown Ventura, and depicted them against her characteristically enigmatic and moody backgrounds. She loves arranging things and isolating them for study. Her inspiration comes from nature: birds, leaves, flowers, and fruits. She enjoys simplicity, the sparseness of few objects, carefully observed.
