Marblehead Harbor Rotary to honor Ian Sherwin

On Wednesday, Nov. 13, Marblehead Harbor Rotary will honor artist Ian Sherwin as he unveils his ink pen drawing titled “Abbot Hall” that will be featured as this year’s Holiday Pops signature art.

A reception for Sherwin will be held at the Masons’ Philanthropic Building, 62 Pleasant Street in Marblehead, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. There will be light refreshments prepared by Every Little Breeze Catering and a cash bar. This event is free and open to the public.

Every year, Marblehead Harbor Rotary invites a local artist to create a work of art to be featured on the Holiday Pops program cover and on Pops posters. Rotary was especially impressed by Sherwin’s work and extended this year’s invitation to him.

Sherwin is a proud Marbleheader, a graduate of Marblehead High School, and a master of many art genres. For his followers and students across the country, his pen drawings, paintings, landscapes, portraits, and prints form an astounding body of work. The genesis of his art began here in town but was deeply enriched by his education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he earned his degree and opened his first art gallery. It was also in Chicago that he began the work of establishing himself and building a burgeoning audience of contemporary art lovers and students.

Sherwin uses a drawing technique called “scribble” art—the same method by which he rendered the Pops Abbot Hall image. From an aerial photograph made for him by photographer Francisco Urena, Sherwin employed scribble art to create a work that is more than a recognizable image of the iconic Marblehead building.

“The picture,” he says, “is very personal as well, both for me and for the viewer.” How? By incorporating with simple pen strokes the names, dates, phrases, poetic lines, and other “messages” that became part of the image as a whole. These are not visible to a viewer standing back and away from the picture; when observed closely and intimately, the work reveals these words that at once evoke, amuse, and surprise. It’s part of Sherwin’s art ethos: art is personal, comforting, intimate, expressive.

He chose Abbot Hall as the image for this year’s Holiday Pops celebration, he said, because it represents history, community, and a place he knows and loves.

There are other interesting things to know about Sherwin the artist. He is a skillful teacher and gives studio art classes (both private and group) for children and adults. He hosts paint parties for small groups. (A student at one such gathering noted that Sherwin “infused knowledge, wit, and a love of art throughout the evening.”) He also takes on private portrait commissions and has worked as an art facilitator for people with special needs. And, he’s an origamist and will give a talk before an audience while quietly folding paper into tiny dragons, insects, lizards, and birds—art that he calls a “relief valve ... a way of keeping my hands busy, and my mind focused.” He’s a night owl, too, and drawing all night long is not unusual for him. Art, he explains, is “an obsession, an escape, a comfort.”

He's also the survivor of a freak accident that caused the loss of his sight in one eye, requiring him to relearn how to draw with reduced depth perception. It did not take away his passion for drawing.

Ian returned to Marblehead from Chicago to “inspire and teach,” and to introduce people to many means of creating art. Look for him to enhance the presence and stature of art in our town, along with his own enthusiasm for sharing his skills with others. He can be reached at iansherwingallery.com.

During the reception on November 13, raffle tickets will be sold for an opportunity to win Sherwin’s original artwork fully framed by Arnould Gallery and Framery. Sherwin will draw the winning ticket during the intermission of the December 14 Holiday Pops Concert at Abbot Hall. Notecards featuring the art, and balcony tickets to the concert will also be available for purchase.

Concert floor tickets will be available online after November 13 at www.rotaryclubofmheadharbor.org, along with more information.

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