By Anna Grace Moore
Photos by Kelsea Schafer
The beauty of a blank canvas is its emptiness–its clean slate onto which an artist’s humanity is born in vivid color and raw emotion. Such stories often depict the fragility of life, and more importantly, the power in cherishing life’s little moments by remembering them through painting.
For most of her life, Sherri Springer would have said creativity is simply a passion of hers, not the foundation for her career. Hailing from Montgomery, Alabama, Sherri attended Auburn University at Montgomery, majoring in human resource management.
After graduating, Sherri worked in various positions, including working as the public relations representative for the Alabama Housing Finance Authority for 12 years. It was not until 2015 that Sherri made her first-ever move away from her hometown to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, for a change of scenery.
Unfortunately, that same summer Sherri’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. Sherri and her sister spent the next four years caring for their mother, and Sherri moved from Alabama and Florida several times—feeling torn between navigating her new life in Florida and spending time with her selfless, sweet mother.
“My mom and I were close, and we all went through that the best we could,” Sherri says of her mother’s passing in 2019. “I started painting for my mind–emotional healing. Grief will change you when you lose [a loved one]. It can be really lonesome–really tough. That is something I really latched onto for several reasons.”
Sherri’s mother–a talented oil painter herself–gave Sherri a Coldwater Creek catalog, urging her to try and paint some of the picturesque landscapes featured–just for fun. Looking back, Sherri says she underestimated how therapeutic art can be, much less how the bond she shared with her mother only grew as she followed in her mother’s footsteps as an artist.
“Each time my brush touched the canvas, my mind and heart temporarily seemed to rest as I was desperately trying to grasp the reality around me,” Sherri says.
After her mother’s passing, Sherri focused on healing her grief through painting. Little did she know that just shy of two years later, her life’s trajectory would change.
In 2021, Sherri was contacted by the Agora Gallery in Manhattan, New York. The curators noticed Sherri’s art online and wanted to represent her artwork in one of their upcoming exhibits, completely blowing Sherri away.
Sherri began painting to process losing her mother. Yet, it was her grief-stricken paintings whose moody hues and bold, expansive brush strokes caught the attention of the gallery and later on, art enthusiasts worldwide.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Sherri says. “I was so humbled and so excited. I hold onto those memories and how it began. I feel like God has blessed me with this talent, and I am meant to share it.”
One of Sherri’s abstract paintings, “Ethereal Dance,” served as the inspiration piece for the Agora Gallery’s exhibition’s title that year: “Ethereal Dance: A Winter’s Dream.” Being a guest of honor at the gallery’s opening reception was one memory Sherri says she cannot wait to tell her mother about one day.
“Art has a whole new meaning [to me] now,” Sherri says. “It generates encouragement. It means a lot to me to take the things that I love–nature, companionship, feelings of positivity–and try to translate those on the canvas. I want to encourage others to realize just how precious each moment is in life.”
In 2023, Sherri took another leap of faith and moved to her favorite “big, Southern city,” Birmingham–Shelby County, to be exact. Between the inspiration she now draws from urban cityscapes downtown or picturesque sceneries, Sherri says her creativity has never felt more invigorating.
One hallmark of Sherri’s artwork is her dare to defy the confines of color theory and form, capitalizing on abstract expressionism or loose-style techniques that prioritize rendering light and emotion from visually-soft depictions. One of her most beautiful landscapes, “Sunset on 30A,” features rolling puffs of cumulus glazing over a rich, autumn sunset slowly disappearing into the royal tides swaying in the distance.
Another one of Sherri’s most talented paintings, “Among Us,” portrays the light that faith holds over fear in a simple but strong assertion of an angel marching through the black–head held high.
“I painted another [piece] full of color and texture in January called, ‘Living in The Moment,’” Sherri says. “It is all about joy, nature, hope and living in the moment. If you ever feel yourself kind of drifting off into negativity or things that bog you down, snap out of it. There’s life going on right now, and you’re blessed to be doing it right now. That’s what living in the moment was inspired by.”
Sherri hopes that her art inspires people to cherish every precious moment spent with those one calls dear. Regrets are a heavy burden to bear, and often, those whose hearts have the most room to love seem to weigh the heaviest.
After all, love is the tie that binds one’s heart to another–a bridge of humanity shared between some of the bravest in life. For Sherri, that tie reaches high to the heavens.
While she knows she will one day be reunited with her mother, Sherri says she will continue living her life as her mother did—faithfully serving the Lord, never taking relationships for granted and cherishing life’s little moments by painting them into existence on the canvas.
To view or purchase Sherri Springer Art or inquire about commissions, visit sherrispringerart.com.
Own an Original
Sherri Springer originals are featured in Montgomery, Fairhope and Santa Rosa Beach, as well as locally at Aloft Hotel in Homewood, Alabama; The Mercantile by Miller in Birmingham, Alabama; and Bountiful Gifts and Apparel in Chelsea, Alabama. Those interested in viewing or purchasing her artwork online can visit sherrispringerart.com.
Aloft Hotel
1903 29th Avenue South
Homewood, AL 35209
The Mercantile by Miller
5287 U.S. 280, Suite 249
Birmingham, AL 35242
Bountiful Gifts and Apparel
100 Chelsea Corners
Chelsea, AL 35043
