Artist Spotlight: Dylan Sherrill
City: Omaha NE
Education: UNO/BFA Program
Employment: Volunteer
Dylan Sherrill is by far one of the best artist’s in UNO’s BFA Program. He is energetic, highly motivated, and friendly. Dylan is very experimental, producing original and interesting artwork that tests the very limits of his medium. Learn a little about Dylan here at Illustrate Omaha, because you will surely be seeing more of him and his work in the future. Enjoy the Artist Spotlight of Dylan Sherrill!
Biography: I was born in Shreveport Louisiana and moved to Omaha at an early age. I became interested in art my freshman year of high school. My homeroom was the pottery room throughout high school, so that is where I spent most of my time. After I graduated I wasn’t prepared for college, so I went to work for a while. Over the next two years I did not create anything. I got into retail management (I will NEVER return) and started taking night classes at Metro. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I just took general education classes. I then started working at a bank and took finance classes at night, boring! Feeling the need for art after a year at the bank, I started to help out downtown at Omaha ClayWorks. There, under Tom Harnak, I learned so much about ceramics and being an artist! After 3 years of being at the bank, I decided it was time to get back into school and came to UNO.
When I came to UNO I left ClayWorks and brought my wheel up to the university. My second semester at UNO, I had some internships at HotShops Art Center where I learned bronze casting under Les Bruning, and stainless steel sculpture under Michael Godek. I am currently a Sophomore BFA student with a focus on Sculpture. I recently finished helping with the new Patrick Dougherty sculpture at the Joslyn Art Museum, where I also volunteer in the Edtech Gallery. Now I am working on a small project with Immanuel hospital that involves painting a small mural in a room for children. Some of the concepts I am trying to work on right now are “colorblind art” and temporary sculptures!
How did you know you wanted to be an artist?
It started out as a hobby. I didn’t really think that I would be able to do anything with it art. When I started to take a notice in public art I decided, hey, this is something I could do! I then got more involved and went seeking more and more art.
What is the best advice you ever received?
When I began to look at more art, and not just public art, I couldn’t understand my own thoughts. I was having problems; I didn’t like most of the art I saw. For a while I thought that this may be a bad thing for an artist! While I was working with Michael Godek one day I said to I didn’t like the artist’s work that we were talking about, and I didn’t like most of the art he showed me. He told me that’s fine, to be an artist you don’t have to like everything, you will probably like only one percent of the work you see! –Michael Godek
Writers write. If you don’t write then you can’t call yourself a writer. –Fred Zydek
What is your best way to break out of a creative rut?
I have yet to find a way out of a creative rut, the only thing I can do is wait. Nothing has really pulled me out of a creative rut before. Maybe looking at others art.
Who in your life has inspired you to do the work you do?
Fred Zydek has been a huge inspiration throughout everything I do. The people I have worked under influence my work, but I haven’t been inspiration very much. I try to soak up as much art as I can so I may learn what is out there. Eventually I believe that a very small amount of everything that I have seen will come through in my artwork.
