Paper Sculptures By Sher Christopher

Sher graduated from the University of Wolverhampton with a BA (Hons) in Three Dimensional Design and a successful end of year show at Covent Garden in 1992. After graduating Sher settled in Oxfordshire where she exhibited regularly in Oxford as a member of the Cholsey Art Group. Alongside her own work Sher worked with other artists and actors constructing and manning huge puppets for community festival events in Oxfordshire. It was at this time she gained her first experiences of teaching and acting. In 1995 Sher returned to Dorset where she set up her own studio fulfilling commissions for portraiture in both drawing and sculpture. Sher continued her involvement in community festivals and carnivals, this time along the South Coast of England, working with different groups constructing large scale sculptures resulting in awards, namely both Bournemouth and Ringwood carnival float winners several years running. In 1998, in parallel to her own freelance work as a professional artist, Sher began her teaching career at Bournemouth & Poole College of Art & Design and then in 2002 Sher went on to specialise in Prison Education. Combining her skills as an artist and teacher Sher designed and led innovative 3-Dimensional design and drawing courses, working with prisoners and the local community, with one of the projects winning a Silver Award for the Weymouth Carnival in 2005. Sher divides her time between her homes in the UK and the USA and continues to work from her studio in Dorset. Her highly individual paper sculptures have continued to be on exhibition both nationally and internationally.
Each sculpture is unique and is a response to the exploration of paper as a permanent sculptural medium. Paper is a beautiful medium to work with and the challenge and joy lie in creating truly three-dimensional forms from something that is ordinarily flat. Each sculpture has a strength and permanence created by manipulating a medium that is often assumed to be fragile and transitory and, with an understanding of construction and form, each sculpture is created without the use of other materials, just paper. The papers that go into each piece are gathered from around the world and their individual and diverse qualities are used in their pure form to create individual and diverse characters, with inspiration coming from life, literature, film and music. The beauty and limitations of the papers are manipulated and exploited to the extreme; delicate lace papers take on an unexpectedly strong three-dimensional form and stronger papers such as suede paper can express the fluid flow of a coat or gown. The attention to detail, such as the expression of aloofness in a raised eyebrow or the embossing of a belt barely seen under the folds of a gown, can be inconspicuous as it becomes part of the composition of a character but enables the viewer/owner to enjoy the sculpture beyond the first introduction.