“Open the Door to Your Own Mystery”: Celebrating the Divine Feminine Spirit through the Creation of Intuitive Mixed-Media Collages!

Posted on 3/13/2024

An Art Exhibition by Sherie Roberts

In the Mary C. Daley, RSM Art Gallery from March 23 through May 4

Sherie Roberts is a long-time member of the Newtown Congregational Church (NCC) in Newtown, CT and a resident of Southbury, CT. She has been married for 38 years to Keith Roberts, a retired project engineer who was raised in Newtown, CT. They have two grown children. 

Sherie earned a Master of Arts degree in Transformative Leadership & Spirituality at Hartford International University for Religion & Peace (formerly Hartford Seminary). A native of Baltimore, MD, before retirement in 2015, Sherie worked full time for 40 years in the corporate world. She is also a certified interfaith spiritual director. Here are some comments from her spiritual journey:

“I have been coming to Mercy By The Sea for programs and retreats over the last 40 years. Mercy By The Sea is a sanctuary that inspires my spiritual growth and holds my grief. 

I attended a weeklong directed retreat in December 2019 here to enter prayerfully into Advent. I brought a suitcase and a large “bag of grief.”  Several months prior I had lost my dear sister-in-law, Maryanne, to cancer after a two-year courageous battle. My spiritual director encouraged me to express my feelings by exploring the art room. I started with a blank canvas and by the end of the retreat I had an epiphany. I learned I could express my feelings intuitively by drawing, painting, and creating mixed media collages – according to how I felt rather than by following any prescribed techniques. I had found my creative flow! 

Having discovered a new spiritual practice that allows me to connect to the Divine Feminine Spirit has been like a “balm in Gilead” for my soul. That Christmas, my husband gifted me a dedicated art workspace in our garage.

What began for me in early 2020 as an enjoyable spiritual practice became my core coping mechanism for helping me get through the Pandemic. I use art to express my feelings on a particular topic, current event, or relationship rather than a specific technique or subject matter. I consider myself to be a spiritual entrepreneur who endeavors to discover and share life within my community as a 'human being', not just a 'human doing'. My new vocation celebrates using my life energies to share my spiritual gifts with others and is called “SherieSharing Expressive Art.” I utilize a wide range of materials in my collages, including acrylic and watercolor paints, embellishments like clay faces and flowers, beads, cabochons, vintage costume jewelry, antique buttons, bits of fabric trims and scraps and recycled packaging from household products, parts of greeting cards, candy wrappers and stickers. 

Four years after my epiphany, I attended my next directed Advent Retreat at MBTS in December 2023.

I was a Sunday School teacher at the Newtown Congregational Church when the tragedy struck Sandy Hook Elementary School.

After 11 years of holding the grief from the Sandy Hook tragedy I was able to process a deeply buried part of it by finally being able to draw the outline for a mixed media collage that expresses what I felt and observed at the NCC sanctuary prayer service on the evening of 12/14/12. Please view “On That Night” at the Exhibition.

For me, having my first public art exhibit here at Mercy By The Sea is a meaningful way to celebrate the completion of some important spiritual healing work by sharing them with this MBTS community and honoring the memory of a loved one. I feel the beauty of Maryanne’s loving kindness through the process of creating my art. In honor of Maryanne’s memory, I am offering some of “SherieSharing Art Expressions” on canvas for sale through MBTS. All proceeds shall go to the Mercy For All scholarship fund for programs & retreats - so that others may have an opportunity to experience spiritual growth and tender mercies – here at Mercy By The Sea!

May the memory of dear sister-in-law, Maryanne Devine Sachs, become an inspiration and blessing to many!”

You're invited to an Artist Reception with Sherie Roberts on Sunday, April 14 from 3:30 to 5:30pm in the Mary C. Daly, RSM Art Gallery.

For more information about the artist:  
Contact Sherie Roberts via email or Instagram. Below is a link to the January 2023 Town of Southbury’s Makers Spotlight article highlighting her work: January 2023 Town of Southbury Makers Spotlight