The capturing of an “ephemeral garden” is an elusive proposition, one that the eclectic practice of Jenine Shereos harnesses in her exhibition at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The artist grasps the wind-blown wisps of scattered natural debris, magnetizing strands of energy and decay into focused individual projects that mirror time’s passing and life abounding.
The only attempt she makes to pull ephemeral events out of the ether comes in the form of photography, in which they are catalogued and studied, reflected on and understood. Shereos attributes these projects to a “collaboration with nature,” rather than documentation, a process of becoming, rather than only observing.
Growing up in urban and suburban areas in Illinois, the artist sought out nature from a very early age, describing herself as the child who could be found “braiding grass at recess,” collecting shells, rocks, butterflies, and other phenomenon from early on — the collecting still occurs, and she finds endless opportunities to forage around her home in the Berkshires. Shereos went on to study at Biola University, participating in a small arts program, where she found her foundation in painting and drawing. Here she acquired the focus reaching into new forms. In a graduate program, she had the opportunity to study with Carol Shaw-Sutton at California State University, Long Beach, who had a major influence on her personal projection. She describes the process of awakening to the potential buried deep in fiber and textile arts, the act of opening up to a new world of natural and sculptural materials.