ART

By DOUG MACKEY

For artist Sharon Styer, there’s always “another one.” Another collage. Another story to tell. And that’s precisely how she views her work, “I’m a storyteller. A lot of people who work in collage have things floating in the air, a cacophony. My work is grounded, rooted into a story.”

Those stories are told with her own photographs, embroidery, illustrations from magazines, pressed flowers, paint, and objects of all sorts, all painstakingly arranged, creating evocative scenes, alternately surreal, beautiful or beguiling. Each is accompanied by a title, or more accurately a phrase or statement. These sometimes-humorous combinations of words, such as ‘I used to be indecisive, but now, I’m not so sure’ and ‘I am pieces of all the people I have loved’ give context, not always readily apparent, to any given work. Styer’s art invites an investment of time and contemplation. Of her process, she says, “I create the piece first. I have notebooks everywhere I sit. So, if I’m watching TV or reading or I’m online, I write down quotes.” Those titles are a defining and popular aspect of her work. “Now I have this reputation to live up to with the titles.”

A quick glance around her comfortably appointed home (which is tucked into a verdant cul-de-sac in North Tacoma) reveals not only her studio, centered in the house, but little art stations at every seat. “I have kits hidden all over this house. Drawing kit here. A kit there that’s going towards the gel (a new technique she’s working with). Card making kit there. I didn’t always dominate this room like I do now!”

Sharon’s enthusiasm is palpable. Now in her seventies, one has the impression she is just getting started. “I’m honored to have creativity in my life. There are a lot of people my age who don’t know what to do with their lives.” Though it’s been quite a creative journey to get where she is today, where her art is her focus, she came to her present medium, her present form of storytelling, relatively late in life.

Her own story is that of a woman always drawn to art but one who chose to pursue a business degree after high school and had many occupations. But that didn’t keep her from her creative work, it just displaced it somewhat. “Throughout my life, all my artwork had been at night, on weekends, Saturday. And I’ve done so many things; sewn, silk painting, photography, embroidery. I read a lot; I wrote. There are just so many things, skills that kept piling up. So it was really nice when I was invited to a show at the TCC gallery doing collage.” She collected some of her photographs and other images she had done and then added embroidery “and all of a sudden I went ‘this is perfect’.” That was 2017.

Since then, her work has been shown in numerous galleries, juried exhibitions and she has twice received the City of Tacoma’s Artist Initiative Program grant. This is her fourth year as a member of the Proctor Art Gallery. (She makes cards of all her collages—there are 70 different ones available at the gallery.)

Her work reflects “what’s going on inside my mind. I’m a pretty normal person but I do have a sense of humor  and I do find the absurd really good. Women (are often subject matter)— sassy women. I have that side, too.” Misogyny is often addressed as well, but she rarely mentions it when speaking of her work. “But it’s just so prolific, it’s everywhere—just being talked over! It’s something we live with all the time,” she says, laughing.

Of the general tone of her collages she notes, “I don’t know that I really go too dark. When I exclusively showed my art at a juried show there was definitely more darkness that came out.” But when she joined the Proctor Gallery that changed somewhat. “This is a place where people are (buying pieces) to hang on their walls. They’re not going to go for the super dark. People have to be comfortable with artwork, and artwork is an uncomfortable thing. That’s why landscapes sell so well. But my work is not landscape. So, I changed a little bit—I made it a little bit lighthearted. But I still think it’s me. This would be what I’d show at juried shows now.”

Lately she’s been pressing flowers— some from her own garden—and integrating them into her work as garments. This technique is featured in a new series inspired by the quote: ‘Honoring the women that we have once been because they are the bones of the throne we sit on now.’ “(It’s about) not to be ashamed of who we were, or forgetful of who we were, but to honor that person. I’m in my 70s, so I’m looking back. Who are these women I’ve been? “

One is titled ‘Being 13’. “At 13 you’re still innocent but you’re starting to break free.” Another is called ‘Being 30’. “’Natalie’ I call her.” She’s visibly sassy, as Sharon says. “I’ve got to keep it real—to me. Making something that I’m proud of. I never want something to be sappy, obvious or clichéd.”

How does she know when a piece is finished—when to stop adding elements? “I’m better at it now. In the beginning, my confidence in my work was not as strong—’my god, am I a collage artist now!?’ So I’d throw extra things in there—’look at all these little extra stories in there!’ But I’m getting better at it. I’m better all the time. Because I work all the time. I’m always doing stuff. Sometimes I‘ll have a collage set out on my desk, and I’ll swipe everything off and try again. Just try again.”

Styer is always working, always pushing herself. “Right now I’m studying color theory. I’m trying to figure out what colors work well together or what is a really interesting contrast. I want to have that dissonance that works. I want to learn what that is on a natural level. That’s what this new work is. I’m just training myself on color.”

Is collage the summation of everything she’s absorbed? “I think I’m still flowing through things. Suddenly this (working in collage) is happening so where is this going? Where is it taking me? I have this really nice opportunity with Proctor (Gallery) because I’m ‘mixed media’ so I can do what I want.” She laughs conspiratorially. “I can’t show my photographs there, but if I sew on them, I can!” 

When asked what advice she has for would-be artists of all-ages, she immediately seizes on the conundrum of pricing one’s work “Some people say ‘keep track of your hours, your materials and pay yourselves a decent wage’. My thought is: Can someone afford to buy it? Do you want your work to hang around or do you want to move it and make more work? So, that’s where I’m at. I’d much rather make more work. The making is the fun.”

“I think you just keep working. Whatever it is. Whatever you come up with. And if you see a class, take it. Keep trying things. You don’t have to make a masterpiece. Just put it away and make the next one.” Like her artist friend Lynn Di Nino she beseeches, “Show up for things. That’s how you make a community for yourself. That’s how you feel part of something.” See her work at Proctor Art Gallery, 3811 N. 26th St, Tacoma, WA. For more info visit https://proctorart.com/