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June 18, 2014- Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day “Counting Blessings”

Today’s sculpture is another work from a talented BC artist. Today we are close to home with Sherlin Hendrick’s “Counting Blessings”. I have been a little out of sorts lately and I have heard word on the streets that this is a weird time for a lot of people with things feeling out of control. It is times like these when everyone is a little wacky that we need to find a little inner peace like this figure and count our blessings.

I honestly cannot believe the number of people who have told me, “if its meant to be it will be” or something along those lines in the last couple of weeks. Seriously, it is weirding me out. People I have never met have begun talking to me everywhere, from the grocery store to the gym and all have used a phrase about fate and destiny in some way. I know how strange it sounds but it is really true. Today’s sculpture was meant to be, I was walking and challenged myself to write about the first sculpture I could find and boom “Counting Blessings” found me on Columbia Avenue.

“Counting Blessings” is incredible, the attention to detail. There is not much more I can say about this impressive piece that you cannot take from it yourself. Like most sculptures these photos do not do it justice, you really need to see the intricacy and finesse of “Counting Blessings” yourself. It will strangely make you feel Zen; I know it was a very calming distraction from my crazy life today and made me happy I ended my workout early to find a sculpture to escape in for a few moments.

Mother Natures is the sponsor of this impressive piece of West Kootenay Art. Sherlin Hendrick is originally from the United States and now calls Nelson home.

ArtsSeen www.ilovenelson.com

Never Too Late Written by: Stephanie Dawson

It’s never too late to make changes and take a chance on a new career. Just ask former physiotherapist turned award winning artist Sherlin Hendrick whose successful showing at Nelson B.C.’s Craft Connections is up until the beginning of May.

Combining unusual materials and using multicultural/multiracial imagery in her sculptures is Sherlin’s specialty. For example feathers and coral become hair, and antique Chinese silver hair ornaments become part of a sculpture’s environment. For her new show, Sherlin has explored a new motif, creating fantastical animals made out of clay and colourful raku holy figures expressing personality and spirit. For more information on her process email sherlinhendrick@hotmail.com.

Originally from the San Francisco Bay area, Sherlin has spent 10 years in Manhattan New York where she has received numerous prestigious art honours. Sherlin entered the art world at the age of 39 instead of an earlier age because she says, “growing up in the 50s you thought about making a living – not becoming an artist.”

Growing up in a working class family led her at first to attend school to be a secretary, then later to attend college to be a physiotherapist. Throughout this time, Sherlin says she was always inclined toward art showing talent at a young age.

“When I was 13, I took an eighth grade art class and sculpted a head of one of the boys in my class. I knew then that I could do sculpture. It wasn’t until age 39 that I saw an advertisement for this art process class and decided to take it. I realized then how much I could do in sculpture. It surprised me what I could do without training. After doing the process class, I wanted to get real training.”

The real training came when Sherlin decided to apply for the Master’s program in sculpture at the New York Academy of Art, got accepted, left her physiotherapist practice and finished school in 1997.

“The painful part is that after my first solo show in a New York City gallery, I was getting this attention but I didn’t have enough money to do my art and pay my living expenses. I had to go back and do physiotherapy work which didn’t leave enough time or energy to do my artwork,” she recalls.

Leaving the big city behind for a more inexpensive friendly artistic community, the last three years have been spent in Nelson with her husband David whom she met at a meditation retreat in New York in 2002.

The good news is that since moving to Nelson in 2005, the opportunity to concentrate exclusively on her artwork has finally arrived. Sherlin has embraced this chance, being very prolific, proving it is never too late to follow your artistic path.