Michael Sherwin is a full-time faculty member in the Intermedia and Photography area in the School of Art and Design at West Virginia University. He has won numerous grants and awards for his work, and has been exhibited widely, including recent shows at CEPA Gallery in Buffalo, New York, SPACES Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio, PUNCH Gallery in Seattle, Washington, Pittsburgh Filmmakers Gallery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Center for Emerging Visual Artists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Reviews and reproductions of his work have been featured in The Photo Review, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and in the 2006 book, Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity by Michelle Bates. Sherwin earned a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Oregon in 2004, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University in 1999. He has been a member of the faculty at institutions including, the University of Oregon and Central Washington University. He is also an active and participating member of the Society for Photographic Education.

Artist Statement

It is a natural human tendency to seek answers to the unknown, the intangible. When we gaze at the night sky, it is often challenging just to sit there and look, accepting our view for what it is—an enormous, wonderful mystery. Instead we search for patterns in an otherwise random galaxy, fabricating constellations and labeling stars. As an artist, I am fascinated by our futile quest to find reason in uncertainty, order in chaos, and pattern in randomness. Using the mediums of photography, video and installation, I make art that reflects on the experience of observing nature through the lenses of science and popular culture. From webcams to waves, the subjects of my gaze are treated with obsessive methods of analysis and observation, articulating the boundaries between art and science, here and there, the known and unknown.