Bio & Statement
Bio
Sheryl Daane Chesnut holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara. Before returning to painting full-time, she worked as a nationally and internationally recognized graphic and product designer. Her design background continues to inform her work, evident in the thoughtful use of color, composition, and balance that defines her paintings.
Born in Seattle and raised in Boston and the Bay Area, Daane Chesnut now lives and works in San Luis Obispo, California. Her paintings are exhibited in galleries nationwide and held in both private and corporate collections.
Statement
I consider myself an alchemist on canvas. With an experimental approach and a variety of organic and inorganic elements: oils and water media, salts and minerals, earth pigments, solvents, polymers and metals, I pour, layer and etch away to give the work detail and depth and explore the patterning created as materials pool in liquid, ripple in solvents, merge, dry and crystallize.
In the past decade, physicists have uncovered that many natural phenomena—once thought random—follow simple, ordered rules. These fractal properties appear in ocean waves, snowflakes, crystal formations, and beyond. My work is an exploration of this hidden order. I strive to create paintings that feel ephemeral and evocative—an invitation to reflect on the fragility of the earth and the quiet beauty embedded in its constant transformation.
My initial impulse is to control the interaction of the materials, and I have become adept in knowing how each reacts to the other. There’s a kind of quiet collaboration that happens when I let the elements find their own path. This balance of intention and surrender is at the core of both my creative process and my life: growth emerges when we let go.
Education
University of California, Berkeley Fine Art
University of California, Santa Barbara, B.F.A. Fine Art
Residencies
Judith Kruger Abstraction, Mass MOCA, North Adams, MA
CV
Education
University of California, Berkeley Fine Art
University of California, Santa Barbara, B.F.A. Fine Art
Selected Solo and Group Shows
2024 EDNA Contemporary, San Luis Obispo, CA, Earthly Delights
2024 Desta Gallery, Mill Valley, CA, Elemental
2023 Mixx Atalier, Telluride, CO, Mineralities
2023 SLO Design Home
2022 Desta Gallery, Mill Valley, CA, Solace
2022 EDNA Contemporary, Take Home a Nude!
2021 Mixx Atalier, Telluride, CO, Seasonal Flurries
2021 Desta Gallery, Mill Valley, CA, Environ
2021 SB Fine Arts Trunk Show, San Francisco, CA
2020 EDNA Contemporary, San Luis Obispo, CA, Oceans and Airstreams
2020 SB Fine Arts Trunk Show, San Francisco, CA
2019 SOKA University, Chaos Theory, Laguna Niguel, CA
2019 SB Fine Arts Trunk Show, San Francisco, CA
2019 EDNA Contemporary, Nature vs. Nurture
2018 SB Fine Arts Trunk Show, San Francisco, CA
2018 Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Houston, TX
2018 SLO Museum of Art, Chaos Theory
2018 Ian Saudé, San Luis Obispo, CA
2017 SB Fine Arts Trunk Show, San Francisco, CA
2017 San Luis Obispo Art Museum, Brushstrokes
2017 Assets Studio, Solo Show
2017 Haven Gallery, Solo Show
2017 San Luis Art Museum Brushstrokes, 2nd Place
2016 SB Fine Arts Trunk Show, San Francisco, CA
2016 Walsingham Gallery, Blue Minded
2016 Sorelle Gallery, Sunnyside with Sheryl Daane Chesnut
2016 San Luis Obispo Art Museum, Brushstrokes
2016 Human Kind, Elements
2015 Haven Gallery, Solo Show
2015 SB Fine Arts Trunk Show, San Francisco, CA
2015 San Luis Obispo Art Museum, Brushstrokes, 3rd place
2015 Jules Place, Date Night, Boston, MA
2015 All About Eve, Johnson Gallery
2014 SB Fine Arts Trunk Show, Mill Valley, CA
2014 Elizabeth Gordon Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2014 Walsingham Gallery, Love at First Sight
2014 Boston Design Home
2013 SB Fine Arts Trunk Show, Mill Valley, CA
2013 Women of Walsingham, Walsingham Gallery
2012 Dwell Design Home
2012 SB Fine Arts Trunk Show, Mill Valley, CA
2012 Women of Substance and Beauty, Gallery 903
2012 Cabana Home, Mill Valley
2011 Linne Coloda Winery, Solo Show
2011 Scape Gallery, Corona del Mar, CA
2011 Williams-Sonoma Home
2011 San Luis Art Museum, Brushstrokes
2010 4 off the wall, Native Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA
Corporate/Hospitality Collections
Renown Health, Reno, NV
Google, Mountain View, CA
Williams Sonoma, San Francisco, CA
Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, NV
Kayak Corporation, Cambridge, MA
Hotel Cerro, San Luis Obispo, CA
Marriott Longwharf, Boston, MA
Enercon Consulting, San Clemente, CA
Kennebunk Savings, Hampton, NH
Ocean Grille, Avila Beach, CA
Jules D Femme, San Luis Obispo, CA