Decades

Decades is a retrospective selection of artworks spanning 30 years of work by Sherry Lee Short, Professor of Drawing and Illustration at Minnesota State University. It encompasses several bodies of work, including figure studies, narrative self-portraits, feminist works addressing sexual violence, and landscapes. These bodies of work reflect Short’s ongoing commitment to, publishing about, and activism around feminist and environmental issues as well as her broader interests in understanding and studying the natural world.

Short received her Master of Fine Arts in Painting with Distinction from the University of Georgia in 1988. Short taught her first course at MSUM in 1989. In addition to teaching drawing and illustration in the School of Art, Short has also taught Women’s and Gender study courses since the 1990s. She introduced several new courses to the School of Art curriculum, including Women and Art, Contemporary Drawing, Art of Social and Environmental Justice, and Image and Ideology: Art and Representation. She served as Director of Women’s and Gender Studies from 2012-2014. She served as chair of the School of Art from 2020-22.

Short has received numerous notable awards. In 2017, she was selected as an Alice Paul Award Honoree. The award was conferred by the Committee on Feminist Movement History of the National Organization of Men against Sexism and placed Short on historical list of women in the US who have worked to confront men’s violence against women. She received the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities’ Board of Trustees Outstanding Educator Award (2020) and the MSUM Dille Outstanding Lecturer Award (2021). She has also held national and international wilderness artist residencies, including at Isle Royale National Park (2018) and Theano Point, Ontario, Canada (2019).

Decades will be on display in the MSUM Roland Dille Center for the Arts Gallery August 21-September 14. The opening reception is on Thursday, August 31, 5:30-7:30 pm. All works are for sale. A portion of sales will be donated to the School of Art Printmaking Residency.