Editorials

Ralph Lauren wool skirt, $798, and cotton shirt, $755, both at Ralph
Lauren; Sherr Designs one-of-a-kind “Uma” bag, $195 at The Designers
Leather Clothiers; Wolford tights, $45 at Night & Day; Isaac Mizrahi for
Target platform Mary Jane, $29.99 at Target; Dan Tag pearl and Lucite
necklace, $198, and pearl necklace, $188, both at Sara Campbell.

(Photos by Tim Llewellyn, Styling by Tina Sutton and Maureen Dahill)

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/

Friday, December 14, 2007
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

By Nancy Sheehan
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

On a whim about two years ago, Jenn Sherr made a bracelet, then proudly wore it around Boston. “People actually stopped me and asked me about it,” said Sherr, who grew up in Worcester. “Some even wanted to buy it from me. That gave me the confidence to do more.”

Handbags were next. She decorated vintage purses with the same eye-catching decoupage technique she had used for the bracelets. The bags also caused a hubbub in the Hub.

“I’d be walking in Copley Place and people would stop me and say ‘I like your handbag,’ ” she said. That is how her accessories line, Jenn Sherr Designs, was launched. Now, her designs are in more than 20 shops nationwide, including boutiques in Miami, Martha’s Vineyard and in Worcester at Artworks Gallery, 261 Park Ave.

“I love her work,” Jane Morgan, Artworks owner, said. “I like her sense of style. She’s very talented and she does an excellent job with decoupage.”

Recent successes also have included landing a finalist spot in the Red Bull “Art of the Can” contest, which drew 2,000 entries nationwide. She submitted a pair of boots decoupaged with pieces of the company logo and, since Red Bull is an energy drink, she went with — what else? — go-go boots.

“It’s been really phenomenal the past few months,” said Sherr, who lives in South Boston. “It’s been really, really great and I’m excited about it. It’s been a lot of work but nothing comes easy.”

Sherr says her mother, Joyce Sherr of Worcester, is her main source of inspiration. An artist and teacher, Joyce Sherr mastered the decoupage technique back in the 1970s when it enjoyed a huge burst of popularity. She taught it to her daughter, sometimes popping up at Shepherd Knapp School where Jenn was a student. “She would be the art teacher some days for special projects like boxes. She would come in and show us how to decoupage them,” Sherr said.

Years later, Sherr tried her hand as a teacher. “I did it for a short period of time but I realized that it wasn’t for me and that I really liked fashion,” she said. She does enjoy teaching art to adults, however, and she does that at four Boston area schools, including the Brookline Community Center and the Cambridge Adult Education program. Among her classes are ones on faux painting, the technique that gives surfaces the illusion of texture, such as making a plasterboard wall appear to be made of marble. The technique also can impart the patina of age and Sherr uses it in her accessories line to integrate her cut-out paper images so that all the colors blend well together. She also continues to do custom furniture requests, including pieces decoupaged with family photographs and other personal memorabilia.

But it is the accessories that are making fashion waves. She hopes the line will snowball this winter. But the tide began to turn one weekend two years ago on a summery island.

“I was away on Martha’s Vineyard for the weekend with my mother,” Sherr said. “She’s the one who’s been a real inspiration in pushing me along. She said ‘Jenn, you should try to get your bracelets into this store.’ So I took them down and the woman took eight of them and ordered eight handbags.”

She knew it was time to pursue the purse thing and make a little noise with her bangles and cuffs.

“I went back to Boston and I decided every morning I would get up and go to a different part of the city and just try to push my things,” she said.

How have they been received? “They just do so well. I’m still blown away by it,” she said.

And challenged, as well. Where does she find a pair of size 11 clogs? She is on a hunt for a pair so she can fulfill a custom order. “I do a show at the Boston French Library and I have some clogs that I collaged with the Eiffel Tower and all French themes and they saw them. They want a pair of Paris clogs,” she said.

Another hit is a handbag decoupaged with many “The New Yorker” banners from covers of the magazine of the same name. It was another whim-turned-winner.

“I just do everything based on what I like and I did the New Yorker bag on a whim because I love New York,” she said. “There was such a big response to the first one I did. People would start laughing when they saw it and they always had a story like ‘Oh, my friend just got a job in New York’ or ‘My daughter has just moved to New York’ or ‘So and so is from New York’ or maybe they go to New York a lot. Everybody’s got something about New York.” It became another big seller as people bought bags for the New Yorkers in their lives, and it seems almost every-body has one.

But not everyone has a Cartier watch. Sherr uses them often, albeit in cut-out paper form. Her favorite pieces are watches and clock faces often massed together. “I like using Chanel watches and Cartier watches,” she says, then stops short. When she continues, she quells any thought that snob appeal is her artistic forte. “I like using all kinds of timepieces, any kind of watch. There’s not one better than the other. I just love watches.”

As well she should as it seems as though Sherr’s time has come. She’s been getting press lately and the next step she hopes to take is a big one.

“I’m hoping to get into a department store. That’s my big goal,” she said. “I’m trying to just keep moving forward. It’s fun and the most important thing is when people see my things, they smile. I was in an art show this past weekend for two days and I saw so many people walking around but when they came to my table they were, like, ‘Look at that!’ and their whole face would light up in smiles and everybody’s face usually does. I really enjoy what I do.”

Nancy Sheehan can be reached by e-mail at nsheehan@telgram.com.

Open studios a boon for serious collectors
by Justin A. Rice

Enduring a driving downpour, the most devoted of art enthusiasts
patroned South End Open Studios on Saturday and opened their
wallets. While attendance was down a few thousand people this
year, those that did come bought as much art as the usual crowds
of 7000 to 8000.

“Some people felt the people who did come on Saturday were
much more devoted,” said Open Studios planner Christine Farris.
“The attendance was down on Saturday but probably the amount
of selling was equal across the two days.”

Farris couldn’t quantify the money spent this past weekend but said
every year organizers survey the artists after the event to figure out
the average price point. This year, more than 300 artists exhibited
paintings, sculptures, photography, jewelry and fiber arts in buildings
throughout the neighborhood. There was also live music in the
courtyard at Bates Arts Resource Center and a hip-hop show on
the plaza in front of the Boston Center for the Arts.

“The BCA clicked in 850 people on Saturday, which, given the
weather, was astounding,” Farris said. Sunday saw a more casual
crowd once the weather broke, making conditions ideal for South
End-strolling. “Sunday we came roaring back,” Farris said. “The
weather was perfect. The crowds on Sunday seemed as thick as
they ever have.”

South End artist Jenn Sherr makes jewelry and purses using decoupage, a technique of decorating a surface with paper and other flat materials and then sealing it with glue. But she had to employ another material - Red Bull energy drink cans - to enter the Red Bull Art of Can design contest. Sherr decoupaged go-go boots (two pairs, actually) with the ubiquitous label and was named one of about 40 finalists from among 2,000 entries worldwide. She flies to Philadelphia tomorrow for the final judging, after which three winners will be announced. Win or lose, Sherr's boots are a kick and will be exhibited - along with entries by the other finalists - Saturday through Nov. 2 at the F.U.E.L Collection in Philly. Can't make it? Check them out now at redbullartofcan.com. - JUNE WULFF

Q. How did you hear about the contest?
A. My mother actually sent me a picture of a pair of shoes which was the advertisement for the Red Bull Art of Can Contest and said: "Jenn, you should try this contest." I decided I would do go-go boots because I wanted the concept of Red Bull, which is an energy drink, and boots you can run in.
Q. How many cans and what other materials did you use?
A. You need a lot of glue and paper. And I love sparkles and glitter. There are about 40 cans.
Q. Do the cans come in different colors?
A. The sugar-free ones are a lighter blue.
Q. Did you use the sugar-free cans?
A. I liked the regular darker blue, but I took photographs of the sugar-free cans and made color copies. Those are mixed in with the real cans.
Q. How about tools?
A. I flatten the cans with a hammer and cut them with an Exacto knife into small pieces. The sealer glue coats everything so it all feels even.
Q. Are the boots wearable?
A. They are.
Q. Are they comfortable?
A. They are.
Q. What kind of comments do you get?
A. I don't wear these shoes but I make shoes from paper and sell them at crafts shows. I made glamorous collage clogs with rhinestones that were $65.
Q. What would you charge for a pair of boots made from Budweiser cans?
A. Probably about $175.
Q. Assuming you're one of the three winners, what do you win and what happens to the boots?
A. The first prize is tickets to Art Basel [international art show] in Switzerland. The second prize is Art Basel in Miami. The boots are the property of Red Bull now.
Q. Is third prize a case of Red Bull?
A. (Laughs.) It could be.
Q. How's your mother feeling now that you're a finalist?
A. If I win the trip to Switzerland, guess who's going?