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Sheryl Oppenheim Artist Statement The fine arts historic condescension towards crafts has made the term decoration an insult in contemporary art. Decoration can also be a very liberating way of creating beauty using color, space, and pattern- or ignoring them. The use of the screen-print process and stencil in my work let’s me take photographs and turn them into decorations, transforming the matter-of-factness of a photographic image into the matter-of-factness of paint on canvas. The repetitive use of a stencil also turns the images into patterns, a democratic process which gives the image of a chair-caning pattern equal aesthetic footing with the image of a Roman pro-union protest. Proliferation, the title of my MFA thesis show, refers to my fascination with and adoration of quantity, in terms of pattern, in terms of color, in terms of space, and especially in terms of paintings. The experience of juxtaposing the finished paintings is one of the most rewarding parts of my process, it is impossible to put everything into one painting, but it is edifying to see these parts come together piece by piece. Curriculum Vitae EDUCATION Temple University, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA Candidate for Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting, May 2009 Brandeis University, Waltham, MA Bachelor of Art degree in Studio Art with highest honors, economics minor, May 2005 EXHIBITIONS 2009 Proliferation, MFA Thesis Exhibition, Rome, Italy (forthcoming, solo) 2009 Wi-Fi Art, Circolo Degli Artisti, Rome, Italy 2008 Winter Group Show, In Between Gallery, Rockland, ME 2008 Summer Group Show, In Between Gallery, Rockland, ME 2008 68th Annual Juried Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA 2008 Twofold, Doran Gallery, Boston, MA 2007 Brandeis University Festival of The Arts, Waltham, MA 2005 Current Works, Oval Gallery, Orlando, FL 2005 Student Loan Collection Exhibition, Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA 2005 Senior Thesis Exhibition, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 2005 InDependence, Slosberg Center, Waltham, MA AWARDS AND GRANTS 2008 Teaching Fellowship, Temple University Rome 2007 Teaching Fellowship, Temple University 2007 Merit Scholarship, Brandeis University 2007 Festival of the Arts Exhibition Grant, Brandeis University 2005 Paul Caine Memorial Award in Fine Arts BIBLIOGRAPHY 2008 Kurczynski, Karen. “Reconfigurations: Painting as Drawing” Twofold Online Catalogue PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA |
 Io Sono Felice (left) 2008 oil on canvas 48”x48” Everything Counts (right) 2007-2009 mixed media on paper each piece 6”x6"
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