Sherri Smith: Solo Exhibition and Former Students Featured

July 13, 2018

Sherri Smith Mercury — *Mercury*, Sherri Smith. Strip woven with cotton yarn and cloth. Image courtesy of Sherri Smith.

Stamps Professor Sherri Smith’s work as an artist, educator, and mentor will be celebrated in two exhibitions at the Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey, MI: Woven Together: The Fiber Work of Sherri Smith features work from her most recent series, Astronomy, and Woven Together: The Influence of Sherri Smith, features work by 14 artists who earned their MFA degrees under Sherri.

For nearly 50 years, fiber artist Sherri Smith has been impacting and influencing the field of fiber arts around the world. Smith’s artwork came to prominence after being included in the 1969 groundbreaking exhibition, Wall Hangings, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In addition to exhibiting her work in museums and galleries across the US and abroad, Smith went on to develop the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art and Design’s fibers program. Now, after four decades of dedicated service to the University, Smith will retire from the Stamps School at the end of the Winter 2018 semester.

Woven Together: The Fiber Work of Sherri Smith features work from her most recent series, Astronomy, which is concerned with science and — at times — mathematics. Inspired by NASA images made by space missions and telescopes, old astronomy drawings, and lunar maps, Smith’s work is a celebration of our ultimate explorations.

Smith’s influence has reached near and far thanks to her extensive exhibition history, publications, and 40 years of teaching at the University of Michigan’s Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design. Woven Together: The Influence of Sherri Smith is a complementary exhibition highlighting the work of 14 artists who earned their MFA degrees under Sherri Smith. The exhibition includes unique examples of contemporary fiber and fiber-inspired works from artists working across North America. Weaving, sculpture, video, printed textiles, and mixed media assemblages will be on display.

Exhibiting artists include David Brackett, Deborah Carlson, Linda Duvall, Marianne Fairbanks, Geary Jones, Mary Ann Jordan, Janice Lessman-Moss, Sue Moran, Robin Muller, Kate Pocrass, Mariannetta Porter, Denise Samuels, Jenny Schu, and Sheri Simons.

Woven Together: The Fiber Work of Sherri Smith
Woven Together: The Influence of Sherri Smith
Exhibition Dates: August 25 — November 17, 2018
Crooked Tree Arts Center Petoskey
461 E. Mitchell Street
Petoskey, MI 49770