LaVona Sherarts
Artist Statement
In 1949 I was told in technical/vocational school that I could not become an auto mechanic because that was only for boys, so I entered the printing department and began to learn how to make and restore books. Later I joined the international mailart network and discovered artists' bookmaking. I had the equipment, skills, and a bunch of ideas, so I got involved. Eventually I began teaching artist books in United States schools and to groups of European artists. Collaborating with artists is a big attraction for me.
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Exhibitions
Numerous local, state, regional and national exhibits.
Visiting Artist
2004-2007 Finland Bookmaking Workshop
2000-2001
St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, Artist Book Workshop
Atwater Elem. School, Atwater, MN, Visiting Artist, Bookmaking
1999 Cokato Viewfinder's Club, Visiting Artist, Bookmaking
1997 St Cloud State University, St Cloud, MN, Artist Book Workshop
1996 McKinley Elem. School Waite Park, MN, Artist In Residence
1995 Monroe Elem. School, Mankato, MN, Artist In Residence
1991-2007
St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, Women in the Arts
St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, Photography
1990 St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, Watercolor
Education
1951 Diploma, Minneapolis Vocational High School and Technical Institute
Employment
1987-88 DOMUS (transitional housing for the homeless), St. Cloud, MN, Program Supervisor
1982-87 Guild Residences, St. Paul, MN, Mental Health Worker
Trash to Treasure (excerpt) by Kristin Gustafson, Times Staff Writer, April 20, 2003
During the Depression, LaVona Sherarts rolled up her socks in the winter and rolled them down in the summer.
Her families' farm home had no electricity or water. Her clothes were cut from sugar sacks and rags.
She used horse-hide blankets to keep warm.
Weekly she listened to a show on the radio powered by the families' car battery.
The girl who would become a St. Cloud photographer and visual artist spent her childhood practicing how to draw by copying the Sunday funnies on to used grocery bags.
So it should be no surprise that reusing items for art ranks high among Sherart's priorities in life.
"I want to make art from things of the past and present," she said. "I don't want to make things for interior design."
She wants to make art that is unique.
At 69, Sherarts is not afraid to dive into area trash bins to find the perfect piece of cardboard. After a few cuts and a couple of wraps of duct tape, she can create a one-of-a-kind portfolio.
"I make those and show the students at St. Cloud how to do it," she said, "because they don't have a lot of money and can get into dumpsters real easily for cardboard."
It's not that Sherarts is afraid to spend money.
She insists she keeps current with the high-end computer and technical equipment for her photography. But she thinks twice about things she wants instead of needs.
"I just don't want to waste that stuff because generations from now it won't be here," she said.
"I'm known as a gutter girl," Sherarts said with a smile. "I look at things that are used or old or trash and say ' I can use that.' "
She showed off a few of her art pieces, including a dusty brown-and-tan book wrapped with rusted wire Sherarts found in East Berlin. Its binding reads: "Binge des Manten furften." She won't explain the art's meaning as her eyes twinkle with mystery.
Sherarts pulls out a blank-paged book. It is wrapped with a 3-inch chunk of material that fell from a building during one of her European adventures.
"You know that it took a lot of people to make this piece on this building. You know it is just going to lay there and probably get thrown away," she said. "Why waste this?"
Another book uses dominoes for its cover, opening like an accordion with music on the paper instead of words.
She teaches how to make books out of anything. And she makes collaborative art books, sending two unfinished books to artists from around the world. They add their touches and then return the finished pieces to her. She adds covers and sends one back to the artist.