Sharyn Hyatt

Painting, drawing, and printmaking

Studio: 3N

Sharyn studied art and art education at the University of Georgia and received her Masters of Fine Arts from Clemson University. She taught art at the secondary and college levels from 1977-2016 to include Stephens College and the University of Missouri. Her work can be found on the cover of three books as well as in private and public collections to include  the Asheville Museum of Art, Boone Central Bank and the collection of August Busch Jr. 

                           SHARYN HYATT, MFA   

The prevailing theme in my work the past 40 years has been “Obstacle as Catalyst”. The WarWoman series of the eighties evolved from obstacles of gender to become a catalyst in becoming a resilient, spirited woman. 

The small “Cullowhee” drawings were the result of being raised deep in Appalachia and finding discreet ways in which to negate the back-woods southern stereotype....again obstacle as catalyst.

Likewise, the “Trap” collection (fiber) and “Red Tail Hawk” series (pastel & gouache) speak to obstacle as catalyst as I migrated from my beloved mountains and eventually fell in love with the landscape of the Midwest.

Within the “All Things and None” pastels, the obstacle of aging is countered with the notion that death is full of compelling mysteries. The work juxtaposes the figure bones, and “cloud gates” in an effort to view aging and death as natural, lovely....the final adventure.

Currently I have set aside familiar materials and processes to embark on block printing. The physicality of carving the wood is liberating.... fighting the grain then embracing the grain, sharpening tools and watching as the ink responds to the wood with varying rates of absorption. These prints are often inspired by the mid-century modern color palette of my childhood. The long vertical format, figure-ground ambiguity, black paper and irregular edges that appear and reappear within my work the past decades are especially prevalent now. And as I embrace the beauty in "imperfection" and aging, I indulge in the imperfection of the wooden slab, the rough cuts, the uneven ink. Imperfection as inspiration.....long last "Obstacle as Catalyst" persists as my beloved muse.