Shari Chandler captures a peaceful stillness with her work; from her vast landscapes to the quieter botanical studies. She paints scenes that seem to go beyond a basic representation, and take the viewer into a quiet moment with nature.

Shari was born and raised in Oklahoma and was introduced to art by her grandparents, who were both landscape artists. She and her brother would go to their house to paint, swim and play cards, so she was immersed in art an early age, and was fortunate to have art classes throughout her school years. Filling out a paper in fourth grade for the school’s time capsule, she said she wanted to be an “artist, an architect, or an archaeologist,” so when she went to college, art was a natural direction. After two years at the University of Kansas on the graphic design track, she switched focus to another one of those childhood career dreams, archaeology.

Shari obtained her BA in anthropology from the University of Oklahoma, and a Master’s Degree in anthropology from New Mexico State University. After illustrating her own Master’s thesis, and taking a human osteology class that had the students draw every bone in the human body, Shari’s love of art was rekindled and she started painting again. She returned to her artwork after a ten year hiatus. Throughout those years, she still had art on her mind, taking photo references for future paintings, and still doing sketches for the archeological projects she worked on. That was in 2000, and since then, she has been represented by galleries in Santa Fe, Scottsdale, and her prior hometown of Silver City, New Mexico. She has had paintings accepted in numerous shows, but the highlight was having a piece accepted into the 2002 Arts for the Parks Competition top 100. This painting was also one of five featured in Southwest Art’s article about the show.

While living in New Mexico, Shari was active in the volunteer community of Silver City, as a fire-fighter, EMT, and her favorite volunteer activity, Search and Rescue. Being outside, and her love of nature, have been the driving forces in her life. They are the reasons she cites for wanting to be an archaeologist. Search and Rescue gave her the opportunity to hike and see all sorts of stunning backcountry she otherwise wouldn’t have experienced. It’s that love of the outdoors that she is able to bring to her paintings.

In 2017, Shari moved to Montana to live with her fiancé. He was a huge supporter of her art, and got to see her in two shows in Bozeman: “A Moment in Time” at Old Main Gallery, and the 2018 Sweet Pea juried show, where her painting “Grosbeak Nursery” took second place. After buying a house in Bozeman together and moving in at the beginning of August of 2018, her fiancé passed away at the end of September while they were on vacation in New Mexico. Shari considers Montana home now, and is inspired daily by the changing vistas and beauty that surrounds her.

Statement

Producing an artist’s statement has always been difficult for me. I grew up learning the basics of art. Most of us experience rudimentary art in our childhood, as our first foray into the world. We can’t communicate any other way when we are little. We color, we paint with our hands; it’s our language. Many go on to do other things, find other ways to communicate with the world and otherwise ‘grow up.’ I guess I never really did. I don’t doubt that many still have that child in them who remembers loving art, and it’s probably still there! Many of us take photos on a regular basis to post on social media. Can you create a statement about what those photos mean? Probably not. You took them because something about what you were seeing was special and you wanted to share it. That’s how I am with my paintings. My whole world is a series of paintings. Daily, I view scenes in the world as painting…trees, clouds, snow, light, color. I see beauty and I’m already imagining it as a painting. I can’t view the world any other way, and painting is my way of saying, “this scene, this is how I see it, this is the world I live in.”

~Shari Chandler

https://linktr.ee/Sharichandler