Andrea Sherrill Evans's portfolio

Work samples

New Growth, IA&A at Hillyer

*Installation view from the exhibition New Growth at IA&A at Hillyer in Washington D.C., 2024
concrete paver and fieldstones from the series On Summer's Margin (installation view)

Inks made with ground ivy, black walnuts, black cherry bark (with color modifiers of alum, vinegar, soda ash, and iron) on handmade abaca paper with flowers from Jessica’s garden

8.5" x 5.5"

2023

*Installation view from the exhibition Par•ley, curated by Field Projects, installed at Mother-in-Law’s, Germantown, NY

Documentation in late July 2023
Flora: Baltimore #6

Handmade charcoal and acorn cap ink (made from fallen branches, grape vine, & acorns foraged in Baltimore City) on paper

44" x 30"

2021
tending to

Handmade mineral pigment watercolor, charcoal & ink made from grapevine and fallen branches, inks made from black walnuts, mulberry fruit, sumac drupes, apple bark, English ivy leaves, rose-of-Sharon flowers, fallen leaves & Baltimore's first snow of 2022, on handmade abaca, kozo, cotton, rose-of-Sharon, & white mulberry papers.

Approx. 52” x 35” (dimensions variable)

2022

Drawing media created from botanical & mineral sources foraged in Baltimore City/County.

About Andrea Sherrill

Baltimore City 2025 Finalists

Andrea Sherrill Evans (she/her) is an Arizona-born, Baltimore-based artist and educator whose work explores interconnection and resilience within the natural world. Evans has a long-standing interest in historical drawing mediums and processes, which guides her use of materials ranging from silverpoint and watercolor to handmade inks, charcoal, and paper. In her recent work, Evans utilizes botanical materials carefully foraged in local and… more

View Andrea Sherrill's Resume

New Growth

New Growth features a series of site-responsive drawings studying the city landscape surrounding IA&A at Hillyer in Washington D.C. Observations of the reciprocal impact of nature and the built world reveal complex, interconnected relationships. Carefully managed landscape designs intermingle with resilient introduced and native flora. These drawings explore ways the local ecology is shaped by its human inhabitants and how, in turn, this environment influences human experience and perception of a place.

In this work, I incorporate a palette of inks and paper made with botanical sources collected within walking distance of the gallery. Cultivated from plants in abundance or past their prime–spent blooms, fallen branches, and unruly “weeds”–the work is both of this place and an instrument to learn about it. These materials breathe life into drawings of both the tended, and overlooked, nature of the surrounding neighborhoods–the manicured hedges and gardens alongside new growth emerging between cobblestones.

New Growth, IA&A at Hillyer

*Installation view from the exhibition New Growth at IA&A at Hillyer in Washington D.C., 2024
New Growth, IA&A at Hillyer

*Installation view from the exhibition New Growth at IA&A at Hillyer in Washington D.C., 2024
New Growth (Hillyer) #6

Inks made with red deadnettle, honeysuckle leaves, dogwood blossoms, bark from fallen branches, & dandelion leaves (with modifiers of alum, soda ash, and iron) on handmade Hakone grass and cotton paper
17.5" x 17.5"
2024
New Growth (Hillyer) #10

Inks made with red deadnettle, honeysuckle leaves, dogwood blossoms, bark and charcoal made from fallen branches, dandelion leaves, & mulberries (with modifiers of alum, soda ash, and iron) on handmade Hakone grass and cotton paper
17.5" x 17.5"
2024
New Growth (Hillyer) #14

Inks made with red deadnettle, honeysuckle leaves, dogwood blossoms, bark and charcoal made from fallen branches, dandelion leaves, mulberries, magnolia seed pods, & Norway maple leaves (with modifiers of alum, soda ash, and iron) on handmade abaca paper
17.5" x 17.5"
2024
New Growth (Hillyer) #15

Inks made with red deadnettle, honeysuckle leaves, dogwood blossoms, bark from fallen branches, dandelion leaves, magnolia seed pods, & Norway maple leaves (with modifiers of alum, soda ash, and iron) on handmade Hakone grass and abaca paper
17.5" x 17.5"
2024
New Growth (Hillyer) #19

Inks made with red deadnettle, honeysuckle leaves, dogwood blossoms, bark from fallen branches, & dandelion leaves (with modifiers of alum, soda ash, and iron) on handmade cotton paper with bark/bast fiber from fallen branches
11” x 8.25”
2024
New Growth (Hillyer) #23

Inks made with red deadnettle, honeysuckle leaves, & dogwood blossoms (with modifiers of alum, soda ash, and iron) on handmade Hakone grass and cotton paper
8.5” x 5.5”
2024
New Growth (Hillyer) #24

Inks made with red deadnettle, honeysuckle leaves, dogwood blossoms, bark from fallen branches, dandelion leaves, magnolia seed pods, & Norway maple leaves (with modifiers of alum, soda ash, and iron) on handmade Hakone grass and cotton paper
8.5" x 5.5"
2024
Ink and Paper Samples for New Growth (Hillyer)

Inks made with red deadnettle, honeysuckle leaves, dogwood blossoms, bark and charcoal made from fallen branches, dandelion leaves, mulberries, magnolia seed pods, and Norway maple leaves (with modifiers of alum, soda ash, and iron), Hakone grass lake pigment and ink, papers made with Hakone grass fiber, abaca, and cotton, on handmade cotton paper
Ink Studies: Each 18.25” x 4”, (8 total)
Paper and Ink Studies: Each 18.25” x 12.25”, (2 total)
2024

On Summer's Margin

The project, On Summer’s Margin, consists of a series of site-responsive drawings that explore nuanced connections between the local ecology and human activity within the landscape surrounding Mother-in-Law’s, a gallery and property in Germantown, NY. Using a palette of drawing media created with native and introduced plants gathered on site in late May, this work references interwoven natural and built features that dot the land. Images of dry stacked fieldstone, brush piles, and mown paths—rendered on handmade paper with inks derived from black cherry bark, ground ivy, and dandelion flowers—provide a window into the past and present history of the place. Installed throughout the grounds of the gallery, a group of framed drawings remain protected while their unframed counterparts weather under the late summer exposure. Over time, the fugitive quality of this work’s organic matter is heightened, allowing fabricated boundaries between the natural and human world to soften, blend, and fade.

On Summer's Margin

Handmade inks made with dandelion flowers, ground ivy, black walnuts, black cherry bark, cattails, honeysuckle vines & leaves, spruce cones, flowers from Jessica’s garden, fallen willow branch charcoal, and pieces of worn red brick (with color modifiers of alum, vinegar, soda ash, and iron) on handmade abaca paper incorporating cattail fiber and plant materials remaining from the ink making process.

Series of 24 drawings, each 8.5” x 5.5”

2023

All botanical materials (with the exception of abaca pulp) were gathered on the grounds of Mother-in-Law’s Gallery in Germantown, NY in May 2023.
On Summer's Margin (installation view)

Handmade inks made with dandelion flowers, ground ivy, black walnuts, black cherry bark, cattails, honeysuckle vines & leaves, spruce cones, flowers from Jessica’s garden, fallen willow branch charcoal, and pieces of worn red brick (with color modifiers of alum, vinegar, soda ash, and iron) on handmade abaca paper incorporating cattail fiber and plant materials remaining from the ink making process. All botanical materials (with the exception of abaca pulp) were gathered on the grounds of Mother-in-Law’s Gallery in Germantown, NY in May 2023.

Selection from a series of 24 drawings, each 8.5” x 5.5”

2023

*Installation view from the exhibition Par·ley, curated by Field Projects, installed at Mother-in-Law’s, Germantown, NY.
On Summer's Margin (installation view)

Handmade inks made with dandelion flowers, ground ivy, black walnuts, black cherry bark, cattails, honeysuckle vines & leaves, spruce cones, flowers from Jessica’s garden, fallen willow branch charcoal, and pieces of worn red brick (with color modifiers of alum, vinegar, soda ash, and iron) on handmade abaca paper incorporating cattail fiber and plant materials remaining from the ink making process. All botanical materials (with the exception of abaca pulp) were gathered on the grounds of Mother-in-Law’s Gallery in Germantown, NY in May 2023.

Selection from a series of 24 drawings, each 8.5” x 5.5”,

2023

*Installation view from the exhibition Par·ley, curated by Field Projects, installed at Mother-in-Law’s, Germantown, NY.
On Summer's Margin (installation view)

Handmade inks made with dandelion flowers, ground ivy, black walnuts, black cherry bark, cattails, honeysuckle vines & leaves, spruce cones, flowers from Jessica’s garden, fallen willow branch charcoal, and pieces of worn red brick (with color modifiers of alum, vinegar, soda ash, and iron) on handmade abaca paper incorporating cattail fiber and plant materials remaining from the ink making process. All botanical materials (with the exception of abaca pulp) were gathered on the grounds of Mother-in-Law’s Gallery in Germantown, NY in May 2023.

Selection from a series of 24 drawings, each 8.5” x 5.5”

2023

*Installation view from the exhibition Par·ley, curated by Field Projects, installed at Mother-in-Law’s, Germantown, NY.
another brushpile from the series On Summer's Margin (installation view)

Inks made with black walnuts, black cherry bark, a mix of flowers from Jessica’s garden, honeysuckle vines & leaves, and spruce cones (with color modifiers of alum, vinegar, soda ash, and iron) on handmade abaca paper with cattail fiber

8.5" x 5.5"

2023

*Installation view from the exhibition Par•ley, curated by Field Projects, installed at Mother-in-Law’s, Germantown, NY

Documentation in late July 2023
another brushpile install weathered_0.jpg

Inks made with black walnuts, black cherry bark, a mix of flowers from Jessica’s garden, honeysuckle vines & leaves, and spruce cones (with color modifiers of alum, vinegar, soda ash, and iron) on handmade abaca paper with cattail fiber

8.5" x 5.5"

2023

*Installation view from the exhibition Par•ley, curated by Field Projects, installed at Mother-in-Law’s, Germantown, NY

Documentation in early September 2023 after drawing was exposed to the elements for 6 weeks
decayed clapboard siding from the series On Summer's Margin (installation view)

Inks made with dandelion flowers, ground ivy, black walnuts, black cherry bark, and a mix of flowers from Jessica’s garden (with color modifiers of alum, vinegar, soda ash, and iron) on handmade abaca paper with ground ivy

5.5" x 8.5"

2023

Installation view from the exhibition Par•ley, curated by Field Projects, installed at Mother-in-Law’s, Germantown, NY

Documentation in late July 2023
decayed clapboard siding (weathered) from the series On Summer's Margin (installation view)

Inks made with dandelion flowers, ground ivy, black walnuts, black cherry bark, and a mix of flowers from Jessica’s garden (with color modifiers of alum, vinegar, soda ash, and iron) on handmade abaca paper with ground ivy

5.5" x 8.5"

2023

*Installation view from the exhibition Par•ley, curated by Field Projects, installed at Mother-in-Law’s, Germantown, NY

Documentation in early September 2023 after drawing was exposed to the elements for 6 weeks
fence (in black) from the series On Summer's Margin (installation view)

Ink made with fallen willow branch charcoal on handmade abaca paper with dandelion flowers

5.5" x 8.5"

2023

*Installation view from the exhibition Par•ley, curated by Field Projects, installed at Mother-in-Law’s, Germantown, NY

Documentation in late July 2023
fence (in black) (weathered) from the series On Summer's Margin (installation view)

Ink made with fallen willow branch charcoal on handmade abaca paper with dandelion flowers

5.5" x 8.5"

2023

*Installation view from the exhibition Par•ley, curated by Field Projects, installed at Mother-in-Law’s, Germantown, NY

Documentation in early September 2023 after drawing was exposed to the elements for 6 weeks

Flora

Interweaving ideas and materiality, the drawings in Flora explore ecological systems, seasonal cycles, and changing landscapes. This work is part of a larger practice of developing a relationship with a place by working with the abundance of its plant life. Using botanical materials carefully foraged in my backyard and neighborhood, along hikes and while traveling, I fabricate inks, watercolors, charcoal, and paper that carry a specificity of location and season. Experimental studies and tests document an investigation of each material’s characteristics, while intricate renderings of dense vegetation and botanical vignettes reflect and respond to the places of their origin. Together, these drawings speak to the work of tending to and rebuilding a relationship with the more-than-human world while grappling with and grieving our uncertain future.

Flora: Amherst, VA #1

Handmade charcoal and goldenrod ink (made from fallen branches, grape vine, & goldenrod flowers foraged in Amherst, VA) on paper

10.25" x 6.5"

2021
Flora: Baltimore #1

Handmade charcoal & acorn cap ink (made from fallen branches & acorns foraged in Baltimore City) on paper

21" x 21"

2020
Flora: Baltimore #2

Handmade charcoal & acorn cap ink (made from fallen branches & acorns foraged in Baltimore City) on paper

22" x 22"

2020
Flora: Baltimore #5

Handmade charcoal & acorn cap ink (made from fallen branches & acorns foraged in Baltimore City) on paper

20.75" x 20.75"

2020
Flora: Baltimore #6

Handmade charcoal and acorn cap ink (made from fallen branches, grape vine, & acorns foraged in Baltimore City) on paper

44" x 30"

2021
Flora: Baltimore #7

Handmade charcoal and acorn cap ink (made from fallen branches, grape vine, & acorns foraged in Baltimore City & County) on paper

44" x 30"

2021
Flora: Amherst, VA #2

Handmade charcoal and acorn ink (made from fallen branches, grape vine, & acorns foraged in Amherst, VA) on paper

10.125" x 6.5"

2021
Flora: Amherst, VA #3

Handmade charcoal and acorn ink (made from fallen branches, grape vine, & acorns foraged in Amherst, VA) on paper

10.375" x 6.5"

2021
Flora: Amherst, VA #4

Handmade charcoal made from fallen branches and grape vine with inks made from Osage orange wood, acorns, and pine cones foraged in Amherst, VA on paper

44” x 30”

2022
Flora: North Adams, MA #1

Handmade charcoal from fallen branches & inks made from Northern white cedar seedcones, Eastern hemlock needles, staghorn sumac leaves & drupes, red pine cones, and honey locust seed pods foraged in North Adams, MA, on paper

10.25” x 7”

2022

Handmade Material Studies

Incorporating handmade inks, watercolors, charcoal, and paper primarily created from botanical sources, these works are equal parts research and play. Through their presentation in different groupings, the drawings reveal an exploratory process of close observation and learning about the biology, ecology, and histories of different plants and landscapes. In "tending to" and "this soft world", handmade paper is intertwined with the varied media and markmaking of the drawings, providing not just a surface but a material with a presence and physicality of its own. With nuance and attentiveness, these studies and experiments speak to the desire to tend to and build a tactile relationship withthe earth while grappling with and grieving an uncertain future due to the global climate crisis.

tending to

Handmade mineral pigment watercolor, charcoal & ink made from grapevine and fallen branches, inks made from black walnuts, mulberry fruit, sumac drupes, apple bark, English ivy leaves, rose-of-Sharon flowers, fallen leaves & Baltimore's first snow of 2022, on handmade abaca, kozo, cotton, rose-of-Sharon, & white mulberry papers.

Drawing media created from botanical & mineral sources foraged in Baltimore City/County.

Approx. 52” x 35” (dimensions variable)

2022
tending to (detail)

Handmade mineral pigment watercolor, charcoal & ink made from grapevine and fallen branches, inks made from black walnuts, mulberry fruit, sumac drupes, apple bark, English ivy leaves, rose-of-Sharon flowers, fallen leaves & Baltimore's first snow of 2022, on handmade abaca, kozo, cotton, rose-of-Sharon, & white mulberry papers.

Drawing media created from botanical & mineral sources foraged in Baltimore City/County.

Approx. 52” x 35” (dimensions variable)

2022
this soft world

Handmade mineral pigment watercolor, charcoal ink made from grapevine and fallen branches, black walnut ink, mulberry fruit ink, ink made from fallen leaves and Baltimore’s first snow of 2022, and sumac drupe ink on handmade abaca, kozo, and cotton papers.

Drawing media created from botanical & mineral sources foraged in Baltimore City/County.

Approx. 28” x 38” (dimensions variable)

2021-22
Ink Studies

Handmade inks from botanical sources foraged in Baltimore, MD, Amherst, VA, and North Adams, MA

Approx. 27” x 27” (dimensions variable)

2020-2022
Foraging wild grapes

The artist foraging wild grapes while in residence at The Studios at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA, 2021.
Fallen leaves and first snow

Fallen leaves and Baltimore's first snow of 2022 gathered for ink making.
Making ink with goldenrod flowers

Making ink with goldenrod flowers gathered in Amherst, VA at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts in 2021.
Staghorn sumac drupe ink study

Staghorn sumac drupe ink study, version with soda ash to alter the pH and color, Baltimore, MD 2021.
Hand beating Hibiscus syriacus fiber

The artist hand beating Hibiscus syriacus fiber for papermaking at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Hyattsville, MD, 2022. The fiber was gathered from plants in the artist's yard and processed by hand.
Handmade Hibiscus syriacus paper

Handmade Hibiscus syriacus paper, plant fiber gathered in the artist's yard and processed by hand, 2022.

Invasive

Invasive documents the transformed – and transforming – landscape of the mid-Atlantic, investigating the ways in which “Nature” and the “natural” shift under the shadow of the Anthropocene. The 50 postcard-sized drawings of Invasive depict monumental masses of invasive plants blanketing the native landscape along highways in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. While perspective and point of view shift across the series of drawings, they are united through linear groupings that connect different locations and moments in time.

Invasive #21, 34, 31, & 32

silverpoint on prepared paper, each 4.25" x 6", 2016-18
Invasive #36, 39, 33, & 30

silverpoint on prepared paper, each 4.25" x 6", 2016-18
Invasive #6

silverpoint on prepared paper, 4.25" x 6", 2016
Invasive #43, 46, 38, 35, & 14

silverpoint on prepared paper, 4.25" x 6" each, 2016-18
Invasive #26, 13, 12, 18, & 19

silverpoint on prepared paper, 4.25" x 6" each, 2016-18
Invasive #16, 24, 47, 49, & 48

silverpoint on prepared paper, 4.25" x 6" each, 2016-18
Invasive #43

silverpoint on prepared paper, 4.25" x 6", 2018
Invasive #17, 20, 10, 1, & 2

silverpoint on prepared paper, 4.25" x 6" each, 2016-18
Invasive #11, 23, 22, & 37

silverpoint on prepared paper, 4.25" x 6" each, 2016-18
Invasive #28, 42, 25, 29, & 50

silverpoint on prepared paper, 4.25" x 6" each, 2016-18

Creeper

This body of work consists of a series of silverpoint drawings investigating the rampant growth of invasive vines along roadsides and highways throughout the mid-Atlantic. Due to the nature of silverpoint, a drawing technique dating back to the early Renaissance which uses a piece of silver as a mark-making tool, these drawings vary in temperature and tonal range based on the amount of tarnishing that has taken place in the life of the drawing.

Window #1

Window #1, silverpoint on prepared paper, 14" x 11", 2019.
Window #2

Window #2, silverpoint on prepared paper, 14" x 11", 2019.
Window #3

Window #3, silverpoint on prepared paper, 14" x 11", 2019.
Thicket

silverpoint on prepared paper, 11.5” x 10.75”, 2017.
Bosk

silverpoint on prepared paper, 6" x 6", 2018
Overgrowth

silverpoint on prepared paper, 4.25" x 6", 2016
Rampant

silverpoint on prepared paper, 4.25" x 6", 2016
Shroud

silverpoint on prepared paper, 4.25" x 6", 2016
Copse

silverpoint on prepared paper, 6" x 4.25", 2016
Intertwined

silverpoint on prepared paper, 6" x 4.25", 2016

Garment for Growth & Portable Plant Studies

The Garment for Growth and Portable Plant Studies feature an ongoing series of handmade garments and other appropriated wearable structures designed to support and sustain plant life while maintaining maximum portability. These works suggest hypothetical methods for a more symbiotic and intimate relationship between humans and nature.

Garment for Growth

Handmade garment (felt, plastic, brass, thread) with potting soil and lettuce, dimensions variable, 2017 (detail shot). Photo documentation of sculptural/performance work
Garment for Growth

Handmade garment (felt, plastic, brass, thread) with potting soil and lettuce, dimensions variable, 2017. Photo documentation of sculptural/performance work
Garment for Growth Drawing (Study)

Garment for Growth (Study), silverpoint and gouache on prepared paper, 14" x 11", 2019.
Portable Plant Study #1 (Persea americana)

silverpoint and gouache on prepared paper, 14" x 11", 2015
Portable Plant Study #2 (Persea americana)

silverpoint and gouache on prepared paper, 14" x 11", 2015
Portable Plant Study #3 (Dracaena fragrans "Massangeana")

silverpoint and gouache on prepared paper, 14" x 11", 2015

Façade Series

The watercolor Façade Series examines elements of nature that eke out a living among the concrete and asphalt in our increasingly expanding urban spaces. Their subjects range from massive vines of English ivy covering a factory building to tiny clumps of crabgrass sprouting up between the cracks of a sidewalk, each suggesting the architectural structures within the city solely through the blanket of vegetation that envelops them.

Factory, Remington

watercolor on paper, 6" x 6", 2016
Sidewalk, Charles North

watercolor on paper, 6" x 6", 2016
Row House, Hampden

watercolor on paper, 6" x 6", 2016
Row House, Remington

watercolor on paper, 6" x 6", 2016
Row House, Old Town

watercolor on paper, 6" x 6", 2017
Row House, Lauraville

watercolor on paper, 6" x 6", 2017.

Firewood

This series of 50 life-size watercolor drawings render pieces of split firewood as they have been carefully, though not always successfully, reassembled.

Firewood #43

watercolor on paper, 10.25" x 10.25", 2014
Firewood #40

watercolor on paper, 10.25" x 10.25", 2014
Firewood #37

"Firewood #37", watercolor on paper, 10.25" x 10.25", 2014
Firewood #36

watercolor on paper, 10.25" x 10.25", 2014
Firewood #32

watercolor on paper, 10.25" x 10.25", 2014
Firewood #27

watercolor on paper, 10.25" x 10.25", 2014
Firewood #23

watercolor on paper, 10.25" x 10.25", 2014
Firewood #14

watercolor on paper, 10.25" x 10.25", 2014
Firewood #5

watercolor on paper, 10.25" x 10.25", 2013
Firewood #1-50

watercolor on prepared paper, each 10.25" x 10.25", 2013-15

Marker Series

The Marker drawings investigate the human mark on the landscape and the wild places that are sought in order to reestablish a connection with the natural world. These trail markers are a rupture in an otherwise seemingly untouched landscape, hinting towards a complex exchange between the natural and built world.

Marker #1

silverpoint and acrylic on prepared paper, 29.5" x 20", 2012
Marker #4

silverpoint and acrylic on prepared paper, 29.5" x 31", 2012
Marker #5

silverpoint and acrylic on prepared paper, 29.5" x 36", 2013
Marker #2

silverpoint and acrylic on prepared paper, 29.5" x 33", 2012
Marker #2 (detail)

silverpoint and acrylic on prepared paper, 29.5" x 33", 2012
Marker #3

silverpoint and walnut ink on prepared paper, 29.5" x 23", 2012
Marker #6

silverpoint and acrylic on prepared paper, 29.5" x 23", 2013

Baker Artist Portfolios

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