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<title>Western North Carolina Woman: profile: sherrie hunt by arlene winkler</title>
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    <td valign="top" bgcolor="#E4DCC7" height="1096"> <blockquote> 
        <p><font color="#6F63A0"><b><font size="5" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">profile: sherrie hunt </font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></font></b></font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
            <font size="3">by arlene winkler</font></font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Although
            the Object Series by Sherrie Hunt is photographic and I&rsquo;m
          familiar with the Small Set genre, what I see for the first time is
          its relationship to Surrealism with its perfect renderings of the impossible
          by its skilled practitioners, hinting that genius and madness are integral
          to the creative process, (a concept that earned them scorn and banishment
          by the opinion makers of the Third Reich). But at the same time, I
          see a sunnier quality that hints at the Southern California school
          of Light and Space of the 70&rsquo;s, a nostalgic vision of radicalism
        with a dash of wry humor. </font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">If I sound
            unusually impressed it&rsquo;s
          because I am. On the two occasions I&rsquo;ve encountered Sherrie&rsquo;s
          work prior to this interview, I was on my way to other destinations.
          On the first occasion I was on my way to see the new show at Blue Spiral,
          but stopped at the Front Gallery &mdash; just in time see Poezie, her
          joint exhibition with the talented Heidi Zednik, which was coming down
          the next day. The level of skill and imagination it presented was so
          unexpected I stayed there the rest of the afternoon. The show was not
          only full of exceptional individual pieces, but so perfectly integrated
          and brilliantly installed, the sum of the parts was its own work of
          art.</font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">On the
            second occasion, the opening of the Artists Round Table exhibit,
            I was eager to leave&mdash;depressed by both the uneven quality
          of the work and the inability of this well-meaning group to get its
          artistic act together. But as I pushed through the crowd towards the
          door, it happened again; stopped in my tracks by the sight of a sleek
          surface, an ambiguous image and sophisticated color, and a subconscious
          take on something polished to perfection. So I am eager to meet her,
          to find out who in Asheville would go to such lengths to make such
          a subtle statement.</font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">&ldquo;Art
            and the process of creating have always been part of my life,&rdquo; she
            begins. &ldquo;But it was in the mid &lsquo;70s, when
          my former husband and I left Florida to join the back-to-the-land movement,
          that I made two major discoveries. We bought a farm in Tennessee and
          found a dingy old funeral home in a nearby town, which we ultimately
          turned into a natural food store and restaurant&mdash;a really special
          space where people liked to linger.</font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It was
            here I discovered my love for transformation of space and a passion
            for the photographic process, which led to my first darkroom and
          a lifetime of experimentation.&rdquo; </font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">During
            the same period, her brother Bryan Hunt, now a well known sculptor,
            had moved to New York where he was invited into the Whitney Museum
            program. He urged her to share his experience in the world of New
          York City high art. </font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">&ldquo;We went to gallery and museum openings, intimate dinner parties
          with well known artists, as well as dealers and members of museum boards.
          I went to Spain with Bryan, as a guest of the Spanish government, along
          with nine other artists and their dealers. And after traveling in Europe
          alone for several weeks, I came home with the desire to paint.&rdquo;</font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">But
          it in the mid 1980s, she moved to Los Angeles with her children, hoping
          to find a paying career that would use her creativity. Here, Sherrie
          discovered window display, which, at that time, had risen to the level
          of an art form. Eager to find work, she trained herself by spying on
          window dressers as they installed props and worked with mannequins.
          When a combination of luck and talent got her the Baby Guess stores
          as her first large account, she was on her way. Creating theme windows
          using baby and little kid mannequins for four different stores kept
          her constantly on the move. But it was a challenge she was more than
          up fo. Over the next five years the Baby Guess account grew to 14 stores
          on both coasts. </font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The windows
            of Maxfield, a prestigious fashion emporium that catered to the celebrity
            set, were a very different story. Here she created edgy installations
            that drew on art history and current events&mdash;continually
          pushing herself to achieve the conceptually interesting windows the
          clientele had come to expect. </font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">&ldquo;It
            was an amazing opportunity. I learned about space, the use of color,
          how to build sets and paint back drops, and I got to work with an endless
            variety of materials to play out my scenarios.&rdquo;  She smiles
            as she turns to a photograph of baby girl mannequins dressed like
            tiny carpenters. &ldquo;And by reversing
          their gender roles, I learned to take risks in the public arena.&rdquo;</font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I
          find the absurdity of the babies delightful, but it prompts the question
          of how gender has affected her career. </font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve
            always had the support of my family for my creative endeavors, but
            I certainly can&rsquo;t say the same about my art professors. I remember
          showing one of them a piece I was working on that I was really excited
            about. His only response was, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to waste
            my time on you&mdash;you&rsquo;ll
          eventually get married.&rdquo; As if the men in my class weren&rsquo;t
          getting married, too? Unfortunately I didn&rsquo;t have the confidence
          at that time to discount his remarks as ignorant.&rdquo;</font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In LA,
            she gained the confidence that comes with success. But although her
            window designs earned great respect, it wasn&rsquo;t reflected in her bank
          account. She moved on to set design, working for photographers on major
          ad campaigns. </font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">&ldquo;This
            was when I discovered the amazing world of small things through the
          camera lens. It led to a period of exploring personal and cultural
            issues by using a series of small figures from the &lsquo;70s, called &ldquo;Campus
          Cuties.&rdquo; </font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The title
            of the series, &ldquo;Objects&rdquo;, was
          derived from the images, which were objects, and from the way the
          female figures were conceptually objectified. Images from this body
          of work were included in gallery group shows by curators from most
          of the leading museums. In the words of Peter Frank, a critic and
          publisher of art publications, &ldquo;&hellip;Hunt is unafraid to
          freight her images with formidable psychological loads&hellip;where
          other figurine photographers might share a joke with the viewer at
          the expense of society, Hunt shares moments of trust and revelation.&rdquo;</font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Which
          brings us back to the work I admired in the Artists Roundtable show
          and the question of what Asheville holds for this nationally acclaimed
          artist. The one thing I know for sure is that there is a growing demand
          here for her skills as a commercial photographer. To find out more,
          you&rsquo;ll find her listed
          on the Web in three different places: sherriehunt.com Photographer,
          veer.com/products/artistgallery and ashevillearts.com/visarts/anewfrontgallery/april-2005-exhibition.
          Her own website also has links to those of her talented family, Bryan
          Hunt and John Hudson (son) as well as her daughter Jennifer&rsquo;s
          website, WNCKids.com</font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">&ldquo;My
            work has moved into a more peaceful place here,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;Nature
          feeds my spirit and is my inspiration. I want to share my awe of the
            beauty and spirit in nature, and perhaps bring more respect and awareness
            to the fragility of our planet.&rdquo;</font></p>
        <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sherrie
            Hunt is represented by art consultants in Atlanta, GA, Los Angeles,
            CA, Napa CA, Phoenix AZ and Beacon NY. Her work has been curated
            into gallery groupshows by curators from MOMA, NYC, Los Angeles County
            Museum, CA, Guggenheim Museum, NY, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA, Whitney
            Museum of Art, NY, as well as showing in group shows at the Long
            Beach Museum of Art, CA, Alexandra Museum of Art, Louisiana plus
            other gallery shows.</font></p>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
        <p><font size="3" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Arlene
            Winkler</font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> is a freelance financial writer, who is passionate
          about art. A former ad agency president and enthusiastic participant
          of life on the New York fast track, she moved to Asheville in 2002
          with her sculptor husband, Robert Winkler. A mother of three, a grandmother
          of four, and the author of three screenplays, she is dealing with her
          culture shock by writing for WNC Woman.</font></p>
        <blockquote>
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