Artists Karin Birch and Lisa Sheirer begin residency at Y Arts Center

Lauren LaRocca, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
·2 min read

Sep. 29—The YMCA of Frederick County, the Y Art Center, will launch its artist-in-residence studio program on Oct. 1 with the addition of two Frederick County artists, Karin Birch and Lisa Sheirer.

The AIR Studio Program at the Y Art Center gives residents private studio space and a micro-gallery exhibit, along with marketing and professional support.

Karin Birch has been using hand embroidery and hand-stitched beadwork combined with acrylic paint as a medium for making art for 35 years. The act of hand stitching thread and beads is a slow and repetitive process that affords the space for uninterrupted thought. The act of painting is spontaneous, in the moment, physical movement. Combining these two opposite states gives form to endless exploration in to the mystery of being. Birch works intuitively, mining personal experiences, energy, movement, nature and the occasional external interruptions of politics.

She has exhibited nationally and internationally with works in the permanent collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the United States Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Her work is represented by Gravers Lane Gallery in Philadelphia, where her work will be in a featured exhibition in October, and NOMA Gallery in Frederick.

Lisa Sheirer is a retired art and design professor living in Frederick. She has a BFA in painting and printmaking from West Virginia University and an MFA in sculpture from the University of Notre Dame. Sheirer has created artwork for over 40 years.

Although Sheirer is primarily known as a printmaker, she works in various mediums, including pixels, clay, wood, glass, found objects and iron casting. Her current series, "Stratum," shows land- and flowerscapes painted on paper.

Her public art projects include a ceramic mural at Baltimore Washington International Airport commissioned by the Maryland Department of Transportation and a glass mural installed in the new Western Maryland Health System lobby. In the recent past, Sheirer was a featured artist at the Hillyer Art Space Gallery in Washington, D.C. She is also a board member of the Frederick Book Arts Center, and her work is represented by Jo Fleming Contemporary Art Gallery in Annapolis.

The Y Art Center is at 115 E. Church St. in downtown Frederick. Visitors can immerse themselves in this installation during gallery hours, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.