Sally Caldwell Fisher grew up in Birmingham, Michigan. Her mother was a gifted watercolorist who never had the time to pursue her own creative passion. She transferred those desires to Sally and her sister, who took them up almost dutifully. She did not attend art school. At the University of Michigan, she majored in English, where her passion for literature and raw love of art led her to develop a narrative painting style. She starts each painting with an implied story, seen or unseen, allowing her to go deeply enough into the experience to make it art.

Her more recent experiences in the world of art publication has brought her to the world of the narrative as inspired by old photographs, and also art for events, such as the America’s Cup races, the Wooden Boat Shows, various parades and festivals, even the Monte Carlo Circus.

“Over the years, my style has evolved consistently, as I have evolved. Change and openness are essential to the creative spirit. I can never adequately describe my art, as it defies easy categorization. Much of it has reflected coastal New England life with an emphasis on the marine life. My children were brought up in a Maine fishing village out of which my husband ran boat fishing for lobster, blue fin tuna, urchins, and other exotic and magical creatures of the deep. All the time spent on the water has deeply affected my work.

I am returning more to landscape out of love for the beauty of the world around me. The human presence is, of course, always implied at the very least. I desire to be a strong unseen presence, involved in the scene before me. Still, never far from the whimsical, I love to paint animals and objects and people. I do feel a genuine affection for the people I invite into the paintings, people who are simply part of the composition, going about their business unawares, as if in snapshots. I am more interested in being eclectic than in being easily categorized. I am no classical artist. I am a painter whose work is her greatest source of well-being.”