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“DO WHAT YOU FEEL, IN YOUR HEART TO BE RIGHT, FOR YOU’LL BE CRITICIZED ANYWAY.” --ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
About Me and This Site I have been an artist from the beginning. My mother was an artist, with a special talent for landscapes, trees, and stylized birds. She did painting studies of Kandinsky and Rousseau that were so great that they could have been exact copies. I really loved those pieces. I also remember posters by Toulouse-Lautrec, and giant books of Kandinsky, Klee, and Miro’s art. I imagine they had a big influence on me. My mother always encouraged my own art and creativity. My father was a microbiologist who’s work took him around the world. When I was quite small, he took me to the lab to observe microscopic bacteria, which I found to be quite beautiful. He was always traveling, and he would always bring home indigenous art and crafts from all of these countries from all around the world. I especially appreciated the rugs, masks, and stories from these cultures. The house we lived in was backed by woods. This brought many wild creatures into our yard and to our back sliding window door. I remember opossums and porcupines looking into our door. How I loved to play with the caterpillars, frogs, turtles, and wild rabbits. Unfortunately, we tried to make some of these creatures into pets, but usually they were let go to rejoin the wildlife. I always hoped they would come back to say hello, but I don’t think they ever did. We had an incredibly beautiful and intelligent Standard Poodle, a not so smart, but lovable Cocker Spaniel, and a beautiful stray Abyssinian cat. I think all of these aspects of my young life influenced my art, and my vegan lifestyle. Someone recently described my art as “tribal abstraction.” I feel that is a perfect description of what my mind sees and creates. The imagery includes abstracted imagery reminiscent of animals, large, or microscopic. And indeed, I’m sure I was influenced by early images from Klee, Kandinsky and Miro. My art is also often reminiscent of the native art that my father brought home. This imagery just comes out of me in a mindless meditative-like state. I see lots of EYES, and when I see them I might add to that, to emphasize the animal or human imagery. Speaking of “eyes”, I do not eat anything that has had eyes. When I was thirteen, my brother became a hunter. I will always remember the image of Bambi’s mom (or dad?) hanging from a tree in our backyard. His new “sport” was accepted and encouraged by everyone in my family but me. I remember one night my mom was making meatloaf. I told her THAT better not be deer meat (!), and she said it wasn’t. I took one bite and knew the difference. I would not eat anymore. I couldn’t eat that beautiful deer. And when I thought about it, I also found cows to be quite beautiful with their big brown eyes and gentle spirit. So animals were fairly quickly eliminated from my diet. When I thought about it, it wasn’t the meat I liked, but the batter, or other flavorings. I always loved vegetables, so becoming a vegetarian was actually quite easy for me. I made my own meals and took them to my room to eat. I didn’t know anything about vegetarian nutrition at the time, but found that it is quite possible to live not knowing such things. The hard part of being a vegetarian at such a time (the early 1970’s), was that I felt like the only vegetarian in the state of Georgia. I felt this way throughout high school, college and art school. I got tired and frustrated by my friends’ taunts that I was some sort of heathen, as they said “GOD SAID” we could eat animals, and the tired old “but that pea feels pain too.” So I packed my car and moved north hoping to find some kindred spirits. I ended up in Boston, and immediately found a vegetarian roommate. I have since learned more about vegetarian nutrition, and the cruel and harsh realities of animal factory farming. I am not much of a preacher, or a teacher, so I strongly hope you will PLEASE visit my vegan and humanitarian links page to inform yourself. When I first moved to Boston, I met a man who took me on a tour of the area. He drove me through an area of beautiful old warehouses by the harbor. He told me lots of artists lived there. I felt it would be my destiny to be there. Then, a year later, I excitedly found myself working for a reprographics firm in this wonderful Fort Point neigh-borhood. I loved walking down the street knowing that most people I encountered were also artists, and I always visited their annual open studios. Ten years later, I was part of a group of artists that bought and renovated the building next door, and turned it into an artist’s coop. This neighborhood is said to have the oldest and largest concentration of artists in New England. Unfortunately, after another ten years, those statistics are changing as the area is experiencing a real estate boom. My concern for animals continues to rule my life. I have, since moving to Boston, lived with 5 rescued cats, and a rescued - formerly abused dog. I have seen 2 of these cats through kidney disease, diabetes, and old age. I learned to give shots and fluid IV’s. Those 2 most beloved cats died in my arms at the ripe old ages of 19 and 20. My beautiful dog (a shepherd/beagle/greyhound{?}mix) is currently dying of Degenerative Myelopathy. The vet said that if in people, this disease is similar to ALS, also known as “Lou Gehrigs Disease”. She is apparently in no pain, just going numb. She is currently paralyzed about half way back and I have just recently seen signs of it affecting her breathing. However, she is still alert, and happily barking. Now, as to why I made this website, and included several different aspects of my life and knowledge ... I am at a point in my life when I would like to supplement my income with a real world job, preferably with a humane non profit organization. I am using this website to showcase my art, my love for animals, and my new found MS Office skills. I also recently attended a workshop in Humane Education. I feel a good way for me to be a humane educator would be though my art, and this website. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you explore my site, and the many links I have included. I will add more pages and items as time goes by.
Sharryl Bryan © June 2007 (page created in MS word)
“THERE COMES A TIME WHEN ONE MUST TAKE A POSITION THAT IS NEITHER SAFE, NOT POLITIC, NOR POPULAR, BUT ONE MUST TAKE IT BECAUSE ONE’S CONSCIENCE TELLS ONE THAT IT IS RIGHT.” --MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR
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