About Artist Sherrie York

Colorado artist Sherrie York credits her interest in nature to a college field trip in which she and her classmates were challenged to sketch strutting, squabbling chickens in a Nebraska backyard. “It was exciting, challenging, and infuriating,” she laughs. “Feathers and pencils were flying every which way… I loved it!”

Although she didn’t realize it at the time, that afternoon sparked an interest in drawing from life that would lead her to work as a painter and printmaker of natural history subjects, as well as a designer and illustrator of nature-focused educational materials.

Observation is the core of Sherrie’s work, whether she is making a watercolor sketch of tidbits collected on a neighborhood hike or carving a complex linocut block of pinecones and leaf litter. “I am especially drawn to subjects that might be overlooked if I were moving too quickly through a landscape,” she explains. “Weedy tangles along a ditch or bones and feathers in a field suggest lives and stories that I can barely imagine. I see so much when I take a walk, for example, but it always makes me wonder what I just missed, or what will happen after I’ve passed by.”

Her work has been included in national and international exhibitions, as well as several books and museum collections. She has been invited to and participated in projects of the international Artists for Nature Foundation in Holland and Spain, and has been Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park. In the summer of 2010 Sherrie’s illustrated journals were included in the exhibit “Drawing on Nature,” at the New Mexico Museum of National History and Science.

Sherrie and her work were featured on a segment of PPLD TV's "Off the Wall" program.
Watch the video on the Artist Statement page!

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In addition to her fine art pursuits, Sherrie works as a designer and illustrator for a variety of clients. Most of these projects reflect her interest in natural and cultural history education.