Art Exhibitions

 Our Current Exhibition

“For the Love of Cows”

Art Show October 10th - November 19th, 2025

The Sherman Library is pleased to present a new art show: “For the Love of Cows” by three women artists who have come together to celebrate these magnificent animals and their messages of peace and tranquility.  Linda Hubbard has photographed cows all over the world.  Suzanne Asley has utilized her photographs and created whimsical cow collages.   And a long time ago, Caroline Clowes (1838 – 1904) painted cows in the Hudson River School Style.  Together these artists depict the many types of cows, their attitudes, beauty and their messages.

 The partnership of Hubbard and Ashley grew out of discussions at the Sherman Library where they discovered their mutual love of cows.  Hubbard has photographed cows from Ireland and Scotland to New Zealand and beyond!  With a camera in hand, she has always been drawn to their eyes and their expressions.  Ashley used many of these cow photographs and created collages.

“Collaging with cows provided me with a way to give voice to my deep concern regarding the future of the earth and all living things.”  says Ashley.  “Cows are aware of much more than they first let on. Initially, they summon you with their gentle loving eyes and soulful faces and then later with their fun-sharing spirit and fondness for music.”  Ashley grew to imagine their deeper comforting sides: did they not possess many stories to tell us? 

She came to imagine cows as symbols possessing knowledge and offering us precious lessons.

Both Ashley and Hubbard live in Sherman, are members of the Sherman Artists Association and have extensive backgrounds in art galleries and art management.   Ashley has a B.S. with Distinction/ Fine Arts/English Literature from Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA and an M.S. Temple University, English Literature, Philadelphia, PA. Hubbard has a degree in Math & Physics from Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. plus has attended many photography classes and workshops.  They both have been represented by galleries throughout the Northeast. 

The cow paintings by Caroline Clowes (1838-1904) are on loan from the Dutchess County Historical Society (DCHS) in Rhinebeck, NY.    DCHS has an extensive collection of this Hudson Valley female artist. Clowes achieved an international reputation during the nineteenth century with her charming scenes of everyday farm life including cows of every color grazing through the seasons of rural landscapes. She painted many farm animals, but cows were her favorite subject:  white, brown, black, and spotted cows grazing, balking, bellowing and staring.  Her paintings of cows in their many and varied attitudes helped Clowes establish herself as one of the first professional female artists in the Hudson Valley.

Clowes’s home was in LaGrange, New York and she was educated at the Poughkeepsie Female Collegiate Institute.  She emerged onto the art world’s international stage at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Throughout the 1870s and ‘80s, Clowes completed numerous special commissions and sold dozens of paintings. This income allowed her to remain comfortably self-sufficient—and unmarried—all her life. She even purchased her own property in Florida, where she spent the winter months sketching and painting cattle.   To see more of Caroline Clowes paintings and learn more about her life, visit: https://dchsny.org/fertile-ground-exhibition/

We hope through the artwork by these three artists that those compassionate cow eyes will convince the world to overcome its shortfalls with peace and love.  A world where caring for all living things comes first, including the place we call home and the creatures who inhabit it with us. A place which will be guided by goodwill, peace, harmony, and compassion all  FOR THE LOVE OF COWS.

The artist's reception will be held Friday, October 10, 2025 from 6 - 8pm. There will also be an artist talk on Friday November 14, 7pm.  The show will be on display at the Sherman Library from October 10 – November 19, 2025