A car accident motivated U.P. native and alumnus Mike Sherman (BFA '83, MA '89) to refocus on his art, which he had honed as an illustration major at NMU. The self-described “artist naturalist” creates vibrant watercolors and detailed drawings that often combine his love of nature with nostalgic structures such as an old building or barn.
Sherman pursues art on the side of his full-time job in Mt. Pleasant, according to a Second Wave Media feature story. He is applying his NMU master's degree in agency counseling as a counselor for Michigan Rehabilitation Services.
To create his pieces, Sherman typically does a light graphite sketch on the paper and then paints on top of it using transparent watercolor to preserve the whiteness of the paper.
“Transparent watercolor lets light shine through the pigment and then the light bounces back to the viewer, giving the painting a luminous quality,” said Sherman in the story. “I choose watercolor because I find that medium is closest to what goes on in nature itself. For instance, how the water and light interact with the pigments in the paper, it's very similar to what you see with rain, clouds, sunshine, and with the density of the earth.”
Sherman is a member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. See more of his work at artistnaturalist.com. Read the full Second Wave Media feature here.
