If you go:
What: Sherry Mason art show
When: through Feb. 24, 2018
Where: The Galleria at the Forum, 2120 Speedway Ave
Admission: Free
Information: (940) 766-3347 or theforumwf.org
By day, Sherry Mason is a mild-mannered attendance keeper at an area middle school, but during her time off, she is a witty pen and ink artist sharing her art via the Internet, galleries and t-shirts.
“My real name was Catherine Siobhan, but no one could pronounce Siobhan so everyone called me Sherry,” she said. “I do my artwork under the name Siobhan, but everyone knows me as Sherry.
“If I ever move, I am going to go back to Siobahn,” she said with a laugh.
Mason’s collection of 18 framed pen and ink works are currently on display at the Galleria at the Forum through Feb. 24, 2018. She will host a Palatte to Palate at the Forum on January 30.
Originally from Farmington, New Mexico, she moved to the area after graduating from New Mexico State University 35 years ago with her husband for his job. Mason worked as a graphic artist and at an ad agency, until she left art to raise her two boys with her husband.
“What got me back into the art world was painting two horses for The Main Event. For my first one, I did ‘On Your Old High Horse’ (in the Wichita Falls High School Library). The second was commissioned by Leadership Wichita Falls as the Leadership horse which is currently on display at Brook and Kell,” she said.
Mason’s actual degree was journalism, she said, which allowed her to write her own copy for advertising. “I think that’s why I have words, because I think stuff has to have copy,” she said with a laugh.
Though she paints furniture and other decorative objects, Mason said she’s probably not relaxed enough to be a painter. “My stuff is very tight. I started with circle drawings (as painting) and it took forever. You had to set up, and it was messy. I wanted something I could do where I could sit down and watch TV.”
That is when she came to black and white, or pen and ink, an illustrative mode that many architects learn. The drawings are made on vellum, or Bristol – a smooth drawing paper using a mechanical pen.
“I use the very fine tip pens and can go through several on a larger drawing. I draw (basic outlines) with a pencil before putting ink to paper. Most of the time it’s all free hand.”
Her geometric work began from a series of doodles she made years ago during classes. Her idea was to take those doodles and turn them into recognizable figures.
She starts each work with a saying, something of her own or something well known like the song “Deep in the Heart of Texas” she used for her image of the state of Texas. “I kind of start with lines and squares (and checkerboards), then triangles, then squiggles and then circles. You keep kind of going back and forth with them making a piece,” she said.
She did her first design for the Kemp Center’s Mystery Art years ago and then began making them larger. Mason has been focused on the work she is currently doing for the past 5 years.
Some of her designs have been silkscreened onto shirts like her Texas and New Mexico pieces. Mason also does t-shirts for area groups.
Mason is a licensed artist, working under the name Siobhan, through Art Licensing Incorporated. “I got the licensing probably from my alphabet. Every letter is different. I spent a summer creating it four years ago. I have the letters scanned and I use a light table,” she said.
Art.com has optioned her work, so if they produce it, she gets a royalty when people buy her art online.
Her current exhibit features 18 works, of which only the New Mexico and Texas designs have been seen, and that is on t-shirts. Everything else is new, she said.