Cheryl Ryan Harshman

PERSONAL STATEMENT

I come from a long line of people who make things – brick masons, fiber artists, painters, potters, gardeners – and like them, I must make things. Whether it is a pie from scratch, a new shirt, or a pair of socks, I love making something from nothing, making it all on my own.

For me it is the problem solving, putting puzzle pieces together, exploring the “what if’s” of creating that are so thrilling. Whether I work in fiber or clay or paint or all at the same time, I need to see what will happen next. Each stitch, each mark, each brush stroke changes the work, moves it in another direction, maybe even away from where I thought I was taking the work. And those changes in direction, those whole new worlds of possibility are infinitely exhilarating to me. I am driven to discover where the work itself will lead.

ART BIO

Cheryl Ryan Harshman began her art making with a needle and thread, first as a seamstress and then as an art quilter. A workshop on clay monoprinting with Mitch Lyons changed her life. Her clay monoprints have won berths in numerous regional juried exhibitions including Cross Currents at Oglebay Institute, West Virginia Juried Biennial, and Tamarack’s Best of West Virginia exhibits. Her paintings have been shown at the Westmoreland Art Museum, Greensburg, PA in as well as the Zanesville Art Museum, Zanesville, OH. She exhibited with the Women of Appalachia Project at West Virginia University and Ohio University.

Cheryl Ryan Harshman was a librarian for more years than she would like to admit. Her work as a children’s librarian and storyteller enabled her to write three children’s picture books and influences the whimsey often seen in her art.