Local painter Sheri Morris will host an exhibition of her oil paintings of the Verde Valley at the Camp Verde Community Library on Friday, Feb. 17.
Originally from Phoenix, Morris attended the University of Arizona and later became a counselor. She minored in art and always practiced it as a hobby. When she was growing up, her parents were art lovers and helped cultivate her creativity. Her grandmother painted in oils, and the walls of her childhood home were covered in her grandmother’s paintings of North Dakota.
Morris’s other influences include her time spent in New Mexico and the work of the painters Peter Hurd and Ben Turner, especially a Turner painting of cottonwood trees that hangs in her living room.
Morris has also been an artist in residence at the Grand Canyon, where she worked in batik, an art that involves dyeing fabric.
Now a resident of Camp Verde, Morris specializes in oil paintings of nature. Her new exhibit focuses mainly on the Verde Valley and the Verde River, which Morris finds very inspiring, especially the trees along the riverside.
In addition to nature scenes, Morris has painted buildings, people, nostalgic scenes and abstracts. “I just do it because I love the process of painting,” Morris said.
The show consists of 26 paintings of varying sizes. Morris fantasized about taking all of the artwork she had completed in the past two years and donating it to the library to sell but never talked to anyone about the idea. Instead, she just kept painting pictures until a bit of good luck brought the show into being.
“I just do it because it’s a joyful thing to do, it makes me feel good,” Morris said. “I like the process of it evolving and I’m never sure how it’s going to turn out till it’s done. I sit and watch it grow on the easel.”
Morris’s advice for aspiring artists is to practice, go to art shows and museums and read. “You just keep trying,” Morris said. “I like trying all kinds of new things and new paints and new ways of doing things.”
Morris’s pieces have won Best of Show at the Fountain Hills Art Show, the Glendale Art Fair, the Mohave Art Fair, the Verde Valley Art Fair and the Havasu Art Exhibition.
One of her paintings of the Verde River was selected for inclusion in the Smithsonian Waterways Exhibit sponsored by Yavapai College.
“I learn something from every painting,” Morris said. “I like to show people all the colors and beauty that’s there that they may not pay attention to. That’s what art does for people, it makes you more aware of what you’re looking at.”
Each painting in the exhibit will be for sale, with the proceeds benefiting the library.
The opening reception will take place on Friday, Feb. 17, from 4 to 6 p.m.
