About Sherry
Born and raised in Ellicott City, Maryland, Sherry Jankiewicz studied Art Education at the University of Maryland, College Park, and began teaching middle school art in the Howard County Public School System in Maryland. She qualified for a Fulbright Scholarship Program with UMBC in 2010, traveling abroad to Mexico to study art history. In 2013, Sherry and a friend created a project in Blantyre, Malawi to paint a mural in a city park with orphaned children residing with the Samaritan Trust Program. Inspired through travel and the desire for adventure, Sherry left teaching in 2016 to pursue her Masters in Fine Arts specializing in Print Media in Portland, Oregon, graduating in 2018. Sherry resumed teaching in 2019 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for 3 years before returning to Ellicott City, Maryland where she is a resident artist at the Howard County center for the Arts. When not in the studio, Sherry can be found playing with her young nephews, hiking, biking, and reading.
““It wasn’t just a question of strong, spontaneous gestures, but of how they related, one to another, how they led to one to another, not just in terms of a two-dimensional read but in terms of a three-dimensional read. ”
As much as we know about the brain, there are still many things that remain a mystery. We do know that the environment imposes constant change within us, and our mind is capable of flexing and adjusting to accommodate new information as it comes in. I sense the mind’s continuous evolution as an internal landscape that connects psychological, neurological, historical, and spiritual knowledge in order to process this new information. I am interested in the essence of plasticity, where the mind’s instability in structure is also its source for our emotional stability. Our capacity to stay open-minded keeps us grounded, and our ability to see things anew creates joyful and energetic experiences, both of which contribute to our holistic wellness.
I see this essence as mark making, color, and movement that express the complexity and beauty of our mind’s ability to adapt to the new. My process exemplifies the instability of the mind’s structure by using printmaking and painting techniques in often-ironic ways and by my desire to cut up pieces and rearrange them to bring forth a new meaning. I work freely with a vibrant array of colors that bring hope and optimism to the forefront of my emotions and symbolize my enduring spirit that grounds me amid change. My art is bolder than I am, and I believe it will remind others to seek the greater potential within. I aim to build awareness of our internal workings that intersect the notions of intuition, improvisation, and the spirit, while still leaving room for mystery to exist within our knowledge.