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South Valley residents have probably already seen her talents displayed under the bridges on the Gilroy levee walk or on one of the many painted utility boxes scattered about Gilroy.
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Sheryl Cathers, 52, is a freelance artist and owner at dabble Art Center in downtown Gilroy.
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Cathers, who is not formally trained, was the fine arts director at St. Mary School.
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“I did that for 18 years and then when my youngest went to college, I found myself with some spare time and so I started this studio in July of 2010,” says Cathers.
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Cathers continued her work at St. Mary until December 2015, when she began teaching at dabble full time.
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Dabble caters mostly to children, offering only 15 percent of classes to adults. Cathers teaches year round, providing after school and homeschooling programs during the school year. She says she teaches about 30-40 homeschoolers.
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“There’s a lot of support in this community for that.”
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Dabble also offers open studio sessions and summer art workshops.
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Tania Triber has two sons taking classes at dabble, where she says they learn many techniques. “I love how the kids have fun and they give real art instruction,” says Triber. “So not only do they have fun, but they actually learn about the different artists and different mediums.”
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As an artist, Cathers’ preferred medium is oil, but she also loves simple pencil drawings.
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Most of her commissioned work is in oil. “I’m tending to do mostly landscapes. I also do plein air painting,” a method whereby the artist paints in the open air. “That’s very exciting and very spontaneous and very challenging,” she says.
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Cathers says working with kids keeps her young. “They make me laugh every day and they are brutally honest. I just love being around kids.”
For more information about dabble Art Center, visit dabbleartcenter.com.
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I love how the kids have fun and they give real art instruction.
