NORTHAMPTON — From the ashes of the fire that engulfed their Kennedy Road home in Leeds last December, Starr and Sherid Adams have managed to get their life back together — as well as the survival and newfound appreciation of Sherid’s diverse artwork.

The couple lost their home and were hospitalized in different locations following the blaze, with Starr being transferred to Brigham and Women’s and Sherid treated at Bay State Medical Center, where he remains for treatment following the fire. Most of their belongings, such as Starr’s violins, were lost in the fire.

But a stroke of good fortune allowed Sherid’s paintings, which contain a wide breadth of artistic styles, to survive. A month prior to the fire, the couple had met Rodney Madison, an artist who also works as an art teacher at Amherst Regional Middle School. After seeing the large collection of paintings in the couple’s basement, Madison agreed to buy more than 70 of Sherid’s paintings.

“I couldn’t really typecast his work, and he was talented in all facets,” Madison said. “Many painters end up having their paintings in storage, and it’s not shared with the universe. That’s tragic to me.”

Later, after the fire, Starr was out with her son and his fiance for dinner in downtown Northampton and found themselves walking by Phoenix Rising, an art store located on Old South Street, when they noticed a familiar painting on display.

“There was one of Sherid’s paintings sitting by the entrance,” she recalled. “I was like, oh my God.”

Jay Martin, the owner of Phoenix Rising, had bought all of the paintings from Madison, and had even taken home one for himself.

“I just thought they would sell really well here,” he said. “And I was clearly right, because I’ve sold about 60 of them so far.”

The works displayed at Phoenix Rising showcase the diversity of Sherid’s talents. Some paintings feature almost psychedelic landscapes, others contain abstract human figures and others still are calligraphy works made using ink.

A signmaker by profession, Sherid cited a varied repertoire of artistic styles, from the renaissance humanism of Leonardo Da Vinci to the impressionism of Edgar Degas, as inspiration for his work. Though he uses multiple mediums for creating artwork, he said he prefers to use oil on canvas.

“I’ve always been drawn to the arts and I’ve had a library of art books,” he said. “I read avidly to learn more about technique, and the purpose of art.”

Starr Adams described a method her husband used to determine the subject matter of some of his paintings, a technique they call “environmental pallette.” Inspired by Jackson Pollock’s technique of throwing paint randomly onto canvas, Sherid determines which objects to depict and their color scheme using random determinants, such as dice or a roulette wheel when determining the paintings. 

“It creates a kind of subjective viewing experience for each individual,” Starr said. “People said they’d never seen art work like this before.” 

Sherid said he felt uplifted by how many people have bought his artwork since first selling them to Madison. “It’s gratifying, to a certain extent,” he said.

The proceeds from original sale of the paintings to Madison, along with $30,000 raised from a GoFundMe, have helped support the couple after the blaze. The couple’s garage, unscathed by the fire, contains several more paintings that the couple is in talks to sell, this time directly to Phoenix Rising.

“We really lucked out that those were saved,” Starr said. “It’s like a minor miracle.”

Though Sherid remains in the hospital receiving care, Starr Adams is back to residing at the couple’s Kennedy Road property, living in a temporary housing trailer, and has resumed tending after their garden and playing with her musical group, Wild Thyme. 

“It’s wonderful, because I can keep an eye on things and I can go out and take care of the property,” she said. “”It’s really gratifying to be able to stay right on the property.” 

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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