Sherry Karver

Photo by Chris Hardy

Your work merges photography, painting, and physical jigsaw puzzles. How did this hybrid technique evolve over time, and what continues to inspire you to push material boundaries?

My hybrid technique of blending different materials together actually began with an earlier series “Identity and Perception” where I combined my photo images with oil paint, narrative text, and resin surface on wood panels. This series evolved into the “Missing Pieces of the Puzzle” series during Covid 19 when my husband Jerry and I started doing lots of commercial jigsaw puzzles since we weren’t going out much.

One day when he was about half finished putting a puzzle together I thought it looked more interesting and had greater meaning with pieces missing. This gave me the idea to have my own photographs made into jigsaw puzzles so that I could ‘deconstruct’ them myself.

I believe in pushing the boundaries of the materials I work with and expanding their conventional meaning. I am giving fresh new significance to jigsaw puzzles we are familiar with from childhood by putting them within a fine art context. This helps us contemplate what we are missing in our own lives or in the world today.

Sherry Karver | After The Garden Party | 2025

You mentioned that the idea for this series emerged during Covid. How has that period shaped your perception of connection, distance, and “missing pieces” in human relationships?

During Covid19 I became acutely aware of the distances between people, and how we were missing seeing family, friends, traveling, going to restaurants, etc. However, I soon realized that this wasn’t just a concept during Covid. Many people were already missing things in their ordinary lives, whether it was parts of their own histories, or connections to others, or missed connections. I realized this is a much greater theme that people are experiencing in today’s fast-paced culture, where human relationships are disintegrating and being tested daily.

The missing puzzle pieces in your works suggest absence, memory, and life’s unanswered questions. What do you hope viewers discover in those empty spaces?

I hope the viewers can think about their own lives and see that not everything can always be found and replaced. We need to find the acceptance and serenity in what is missing, and the hopefulness that the missing parts could be open spaces for something new to enter the picture, or our lives.

Sherry Karver | An Early Evening Serenade | 2025

What drew you specifically to crowd scenes and public spaces like train stations and city streets as your primary subject matter?

I was born and raised in Chicago and have lived in a number of large cities such as New Orleans, San Diego, New York, and now Oakland, CA so I am a ‘big city girl’. I think this instinctively draws my interest to large public spaces in metropolitan areas. There is an energy that happens in crowd scenes and on busy city streets that I find exciting.

Train stations in particular have large numbers of people moving back and forth yet never quite connecting like ships passing in the night. People are always rushing to catch a train or to get home after leaving the train.

Even if we are by ourselves, we are still part of the crowd, which I call being “collectively alone”.

Sherry Karver | Constructing Our Own Realities | 2025

Your education began in sociology and ceramics before moving into photography and mixed media. How does your background influence the way you portray people?

I think my undergraduate degree in sociology played a role in my interest about people and how we are individuals that navigate within a bigger context. My M.F.A in ceramics gave me the love of experimenting with different materials that still influences me today, and has given me the confidence to push the parameters of what I am working on.

Sherry Karver | Convergence Of Earth And Sky | 2024

When creating these works, how do you decide which pieces to remove and what areas of the image should remain intact?

It’s always a difficult process to decide what pieces of the puzzle to remove and what to leave in. Sometimes I remove way too many and have to put them back in. Other times I’m much too cautious, so it’s a delicate balance. I leave enough pieces in to keep the basic composition intact, but remove enough to open space for the viewer to explore. It’s really just an intuitive approach.

After I remove the pieces I adhere the puzzle to a wood panel and paint the negative spaces with oil. The final surface is resin coated, which blends the pieces and the background together so the puzzle can never be fully completed. The British writer Henry Green said, “the more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in”.

Sherry Karver | Walk On By | 2025

Travel seems essential to your practice. How does being in different cities influence the themes and atmosphere of each piece?

Traveling to different cities does inspire my work and opens me up to seeing things that I might take for granted in my hometown. I like the architecture in other places, and often the quality and the angles of light are different, so it gives me more possibilities for photography. Everything seems more exciting when I’m somewhere else!