Meet Chris Sheridan | Visual artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Sheridan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
A sunset isn’t simply light of day, and then dark of night. There is the slow gradation from gleaming light, to the waning low light on the horizon casting endlessly long shadows, then the glow of golden hour, followed by the haunting mystique of the blue hour, the eye trickery of the nearly dark, and if you’ve sat long enough to truly enjoy all of the movements, the real darkness. The nuance between “keep going or give up” is much the same.

As an artist it’s imperative to have the drive to keep pushing yourself, always striving to get better, to have the resolve to see your art through, the clarity to know when a piece is done, the control to not over-work your art rendering it without any clear focal point, and the wisdom to know when a piece has run its course, and is more beneficial to your growth as a lesson learned, rather than a finished work of art.

There’s a quote I once heard on an episode of the Muppet Show, when I was a child, that I believe encapsulates this perfectly, both for art, and perhaps life too:
“You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em
Know when to fold ‘em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run…”.
– Kenny Rogers

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m proud, after so many years, to still be an artist. Unless you marry-up, or come from a proper F-U amount of old money, choosing the path of an artist is a wild ride of ups-and-downs. It’s a life choice that is profoundly rewarding, and at times quite challenging. There are a number of risks and sacrifices involved, and it can be rather hard to actually break past stating “I’m an artist”, to actually developing and sustaining a life of an artist. In the face of all it takes, many people fade away, or give up abruptly. As for me, there’s no doubt that I floundered, making incredibly poor choices and avoidable mistakes in my younger years that just about snuffed out my fledgling “artist” career. But somehow, within the ashes of my squandered talent at the time, in a moment of pure humility, I began to learn, not only about who I was, but also about all that I had done wrong (I truly did), and what I needed to do, to be the artist I always dreamt of being. Most importantly I, perhaps unknowingly, sowed the seeds to becoming a life-long pupil, and that is precisely what has shaped me as an artist. Being an artist requires a proper mixture of ego, humility, passion, grit, gumption, and un-unbridled devotion to constantly pushing yourself to be better. I used to think that “better” was in relation to everyone else, but in all actuality, it’s better than your current self, and avoiding becoming stagnant. And there’s no better way to do that, than to be completely willing to learn.

If you want to get into the technical bits, here’s my statement/bio teaser (for deep cuts, including all my statements from the last 18+ years, visit my website www.sheridanart.com):

Chris Sheridan is a contemporary realist whose paintings search out the stories and myths lingering within the splendor and shadows of nature. His work originally sought to better understand the human condition, through symbol laden renderings of the human figure inspired by folklore, mythology and religion. In 2017, his focus abruptly changed as he wandered deeper into storytelling, moving beyond the human form, to its very inspiration in the landscape.
Before embarking on this nearly 25-year journey, Chris earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in visual arts. He has served as an adjunct professor of art and design. Art residencies and extensive travel throughout Europe and South America have allowed him to immerse himself ever-deeper, into the wonders of nature and rich story. After calling numerous areas of the US home, Chris has settled in the Pacific Northwest in Washington State. You can currently see his work at the Seattle Art Museum Gallery.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m not really in a place to give a proper shout out for L.A., hell, I was once told at a group show that I was in down there, that I wasn’t “Rock-n-Roll” enough for L.A., but my art was “pretty damn good”. I’m in the PNW and I can give you a pretty good list for the Seattle area though.

Food:
(I probably like food too much) Ciudad, The Pink Door, Taylor Shellfish Farms, White Swan Public House, El Camión, Mashiko, Seattle Fish Company, Husky Deli, Marination Mai Kai, Smarty Pants, Phorale, The Salvadorian Bakery, any of the abundance of food trucks, Tamarind Tree, La Rustica

Drinks:
Beveridge Place, Skål Beer Hall, Rumba, Sol Liquor lounge, The Hideout, Loretta’s Northwestener (good greasy burgers too), and there’s a hell of a lot of breweries and distilleries, just toss a dart at a map of the Seattle area, and you’re bound to find a good one.

Art:
Ghost Gallery, J. Rinehart, Seattle Art Museum Gallery (for all the PNW artists, then go see the museum), the Museum of Northwest Art, Vermillion (good drinks and music too), the Tashiro Kaplan building, any of the art walks (Pioneer Square, Capitol Hill, the Georgetown Art Attack, etc), and the crown jewel of studio buildings, Equinox Studios. Equinox is the strongest arts community I’ve ever had the privilege of participating in. And although I’m not there anymore, I will soap-box about them at any chance I can get.
– As they are far more succinct than me: “We’ve done it. We’ve broken the mold. Every way you can cut it, stamp it or imagine it. Molten steel. Melted paint. Unwoven thread. Papyrus, clay, lead, graphite, sound waves, poetic words. Painters, sculptors, fabricators, musicians, performance artists, book makers and every other letter of the artist alphabet have built a community unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. Located right on the edge of Georgetown in Seattle, Washington.”

But really, the arts community here in the PNW has a veritable cornucopia of amazingly diverse, incredibly skilled, brilliant artists. The level of talent and creativity is astounding, and yet frustratingly unrecognized outside of the region. Seriously, come here and check it out.

Side note: We’re also a food/drink driven social group, and always open to new faces. For instance, a bunch of artist (I mean this quite broadly) friends and I are getting together this weekend for a gumbo cookoff, and certainly a dash of talking shop (I’ve been trying to perfect my NW take on gumbo; close, very close).

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This could easily turn into an Oscar speech, and in no time the “get off the stage” music would be blaring, and I’d still be yammering. There’s simply so many people whose influence and support has enabled who I am today, and I am so fortunate, and endlessly grateful for that. You all know who you are (there are so many that could be acknowledged here, no doubt you’re reading this), and you know the outsized portion of my heart that you fill. I love you, and everything that you have done for me. But right now, I’m going to give a shout-out to my goddaughter Lilia, she’s just about 8, and wants to be an artist. Her godmother, fellow artist/my much-appreciated better half, Kate and I have bought her so many How-to-draw books of which she has diligently drawn the contents of in their entirety, with an untarnished eagerness and ambition filling her glorious eyes. She recently asked us if we could teach her to paint “like you”, and in that one moment, caused the darkness that sometimes clouds my vision to completely dissipate, and revitalized my flagging drive.

Website: www.sheridanart

Instagram: @chris_sheridan

Facebook: @ChrisSheridanArt