Artist and South Carolina native Sherry Strickland Martin spent much of her career creating images for commercial products such as housewares, notecards, fabric designs and sports artwork. But a bout with breast cancer led her to relocate from Hilton Head Island to Myrtle Beach to be near family, to teach and to return to the traditional watercolors and mixed media work with which she began her career as an artist.
Sherry Strickland Martin, Royal Doulton Garden, 2010, watercolor, 32″ x 39.5″
An exhibition of these works, titled Roots Run Deep, will be on display from October 4 – December 16 at the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum. An opening reception featuring a talk by the artist will be held from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 11. The reception is free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours for the exhibit are 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. Sundays.
Sherry Strickland Martin, Time Between Rivers, 2017, oil, 13.5″ x 21″
Martin’s highly representational watercolor and mixed media works range from richly detailed landscapes to intimate portraits of people who might be found anywhere in the Lowcountry.
“Roots Run Deep . . . speaks to a return in doing what nurtures your soul,” the artist writes in her artist statement. “Second, it’s that salt air, plough mud, and the sweet smell of oyster beds that never leave you, but bring you and family home again, where roots run deep.”
Martin, who grew up in the South Carolina upstate, received her BA in Studio Art at Limestone College in Gaffney, SC (1982). She began her art career by producing work for galleries and juried museum exhibitions as well as teaching workshops and doing commissioned work throughout the Carolinas. That led to her commercial work in licensed images marketed through a wide range of retail outlets as well as professional sports organizations; a career that was sidelined by her illness.
As well as dealing with her personal health, Martin’s art career faced a further obstacle. In April 2009, she lost her home and most her art, over 300 works, in a wildfire. “I’ve had a lot of catching up to do to begin showing my work in Myrtle Beach,” says Martin. “I have been working on that diligently with a refocus on producing work that speaks to me and challenges my skill level.”
It wasn’t until 2014 that Martin started exhibiting her paintings again. That year, the South Carolina Watermedia Society awarded her “Signature Member in Excellence” in their annual juried exhibition.
In addition to teaching visual arts at St. James High School in Murrells Inlet, Martin continues to paint professionally and regularly shares her work with her students as a teaching aid and for inspiration.
Admission to the Art Museum is free at all times but donations are welcomed.
