Sherrie McGraw knew at four years old that she wanted to be an artist and began copying relentlessly from books on drawing and painting. As a child, McGraw was shy: “Mostly, I watched the world, removed. Without exaggeration, drawing began my lifeline.” That lifeline took her to art classes in Oklahoma City before studying at the Art Students League in New York City, where she met her partner and artistic collaborator, David Leffel. With Leffel, McGraw turned to abstract realism, which she describes as “a vision point of view in which the subject matter is a vehicle—not the reason—for painting the abstract beauty in today’s world.” Following several trips to San Cristobal, New Mexico, McGraw and Leffel bought a house in Taos and moved to the area permanently in 1992. Taos’s beauty has affected McGraw’s works significantly. “My work has progressed and deepened with the solitude of being in the country and having a much more peaceful lifestyle,” she says. “I can’t imagine living anywhere else, nor would I want to.”

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