Biography

Sheryl Tempchin’s abstract and semi-abstract paintings are expressions of her deep feelings for the natural world, its beauty and fragility. Born in Minnesota, she spent much of her childhood surrounded by nature—the woodlands and lakes near her home on the outskirts of Minneapolis, as well as her grandparents’ farm near the town of Alexandria.

When she was in her teens, her family moved to California, where she saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. She fell in love with the sea and the beach towns that dotted its shores. As an adult, she eventually settled in the coastal town of Encinitas, where she continues to live and paint.

Tempchin studied art at Palomar College, in San Marcos CA, UCLA, and the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. She has exhibited her paintings locally at the Encinitas City Hall, the L Street Gallery in San Diego, and the Oceanside Museum of Art. Her work has also been shown in galleries further afield such as in the Sylvia White Gallery in Ventura, the Las Laguna Gallery in Laguna Beach, the Verum Ultimum Gallery in Portland, Oregon, and the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts.

“My paintings are about the natural world, the sea, the sky, and the life that surrounds me,” she says. “What I’m interested in is not so much how things look as how they make me feel, and the mystery behind it all. That’s what I’m aiming for. Through my paintings, I hope people can connect to that sense of mystery.”