Meet Sheridan Furrer | Artist & Mental Health Professional

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sheridan Furrer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sheridan, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think most people would agree with the saying “the greater the risk greater the reward”, and one of the greatest risks that someone can take is quitting their job to pursue their passion. It’s “ideal” for creatives and entrepreneurs, sacrificing everything for the sake of realizing your dream – and that’s the standard that you should hold yourself to, right? If you’re not willing to risk everything you have for your dream/passion/art/etc. then why even have it in the first place? Do you even really care about it if you aren’t willing to give up everything for it? Well, for me this dichotomous thinking is “the easy way out”. I think that an even greater risk one can take is to face the throes of “real life”, while still holding on to their passions and dreams. Risking the grind of daily life without getting ground-down, keeping that bill-paying job (and side hustles) to have food, shelter, and security assured for yourself and dear ones, engaging with friends and participating in the world while still forging time for your passion – when you have it, if you can even afford it, is such a bigger risk to take.

I want to share a quote from Richard Matheson’s short story “Mad House” that has resonated with me for years, and serves as a reminder for the risk of engaging with/participating in “real life”:
God help all us poor wretches who would create and find that we must lose our hearts for it because we cannot afford to spend our time at it.

The amount of effort, focus, and dedication that it takes for someone to maintain both stability in life and keep their passion burning is beyond inspiring, and a risk in itself. You can risk losing your passion to life, or your meaning of life because you held onto passion, and ultimately risk losing both. The risk is in towing the line and doing your best at the balancing all the facets of your life. I think you can absolutely find a balance though, and attain the ultimate reward – maintaining passion and success as a participant in reality, perfectly balanced within you, a self-actualized human being.


Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

I hate rambling about myself, definitely as an artist… I mentioned earlier the classic creative dilemma “quit your bill-paying job(s) for your passion, or keep the bills paid and just manage to find the time”. I would say that I took the route of stability over passion. There are some artists who can always find the time for their art, I know quite a few (and they’re all amazing/motivating), but there are those of us that don’t have infinite reserves of creativity, or maybe we do but the drive is what dwindles too soon. Sometimes that drive needs to go somewhere else, like focusing on your job and getting an education because that “starving artist/sacrifice everything for my art” trope really ain’t for us all.

I created a lot as a kid and as an angsty teenager I found my style, and I recall all I did was doodle/draw/paint nearly 24/7. It was amazing, but I had the luxury of time because I had zero responsibilities; and as those came through life, I chose to establish myself as “independent” by working a bunch of shitty minimum-wage jobs to pay the bills, and when I had free time, I’d be out living the late teen/early 20-something party-life. I still did art, but it certainly wasn’t coming from the same deep wells that it was from before – and it absolutely showed in my work, when I did sit down to create it. That lack of time given to what I called my “passion in life” was a huge source of shame and frustration – I didn’t feel confident in what I was making, disconnected from myself in my identity as an “artist”. That all changed when I decided to go back to school, and through my undergrad I was able to reconnect with my artistic identity and see how it evolved from angsty teen to slightly less (but still very) angsty late-20’s-something. Since graduating last spring, my sights are set on combining my “profession” of mental health with my “artist” identity and pursue a degree in Art Therapy. It’s been a hell of a journey to get to this point, and all the moments of doubt, self-loathing, and shame for not producing work “because I’m an artist and I should. I should find the time for it cause it’s my passion, right?” are worth it to be here – I’m doing two things I’m passionate about, interwoven so that I am “creating” every day, in working with clients, helping them process through creative modalities – all of which bleeds into my own work. I finally feel connected to myself again and I am excited for my future as both therapist and artist I want to see where my art develops.

I definitely do art for personal therapy, rarely do I have a preconceived idea but rather get lost in whatever music I’m into at the moment and just go for it – while I may not be consciously processing my emotions/thoughts, it all comes out in my work, which can be very raw but that’s also part of its beauty and why people live for art in general right? There’s a beauty to the rawness of human emotion, and I think that my work captures that perfectly. It’s a fine balance between “dark” and “aesthetically pleasing” and there is a more organic quality to it than I think is common nowadays, especially with the heavy use of technology to aid in the art-making process.

To sum up my point – if you’re feeling that you need to put your passion on the back burner for something, it’s okay. It’s okay to not be this creative powerhouse because there are more important things in the complexities of your existence, and it’s your prerogative what you put your time and energy towards. I can say as a still-angsty-but-overall-happy 30-year-old that so long as you trust your gut and go forth in life earnestly, you’ll end up right where you need to be.


Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

Well, quite a few of my old haunts have closed (or have yet to re-open), but I could certainly finagle a good week of debauchery! I will say one of my favorite things to do is go explore around the Suncore Powerplant, haha. There’s a bunch of construction on the roads leading there so not as casual of a drive as it was, but the area has this weird like, timeless/toxic quality like something out of a David Lynch movie. Plus, there is a road that drives right through the plant that’s especially gorgeous at night with everything lit up in that orange-tungsten glow. Another good drive-around is the classic trek up and down Colfax Avenue – I recently had to go to my mechanics (shout-out to Summit Auto at Colfax & Chambers if you drive a Subaru, they’re actually the best in town) and east-East Colfax is like a different time and place, probably ‘cause gentrification hasn’t quite sunk it’s claws down there yet. Real fun drive either way assuming you’re not in rush hour or anything. Urban exploration is a favored pastime but everything cool is getting torn down quick in this city, so that’s kinda been a bummer. There’s always the random abandoned missile silos that’ve been on my bucket list for a while now, though I won’t endorse trespassing (in print), I do encourage the readers to google ‘em.

Dive bars are def my jam, and my favored ones that survived the pandemic are Embassy Tavern which has a good “cozy” dive feel and great patio, plus karaoke if that’s YOUR jam (not mine but everyone else on earth seems to enjoy it), PS Lounge is a true cash-only gem on East Colfax, and each patron is greeted with an Alabama Slammer and fresh-cut roses for extra lovely creatures year-round plus it’s a hoot ‘n a half to gauge how random people’s nights have gone by surveying the aftermath of strewn/crushed roses up and down Colfax. For the ultimate Denver-dive experience there’s Bar Bar (aka Carioca Café), one of my most cherished memories is when my friend hit me up at like 9am in a snowstorm ‘cause she got to work and realized work was cancelled, so we braved the weather and met up at Bar Bar and drank away the morning. Sounds simple but it was actually the best, had the place basically to ourselves give or take a few bodies drifting in and out. There’s a lot of other dives that honestly idk if they’re open, we lost so many good spots to 2020 man.

Bastien’s + their world-famous sugar steak managed to survive the pandemic, thank god. I haven’t actually been there yet but it’s on my list as a hallmark of Colfax and Denver in general. On that note Pete’s Kitchen, though no longer 24/7, is another Denver staple that survived 2020 so everyone should go eat there so something of ‘ol Pete’s legacy can remain in this city. I’ll give a shout-out to my two fav spots for Mexican food – El Taco de Mexico on 7th & Santa Fe and Los Gallitos Taqueria on West Alameda Ave. which is still open til like 3am most nights I believe. Also shout-out to used books and music spots – Kilgore Books, Wax Trax, and Black & Read (R.I.P. Danny) are my go-to’s. I dunno about ya’ll but I definitely still collect analog media so I really value that these spaces haven’t shuttered during the pandemic, especially Kilgore Books who took orders via Instagram and made contactless shopping + supporting local business easy-peasy.

Let’s see, well I spent the majority of my 20’s working at the Esquire Theatre, so we’d definitely do the indie-film rounds in the city – Mayan Theatre and Sie Film Center have been sporadically open during lockdown, and I’m thrilled that Esquire and Chez Artiste will be re-opening for the first time since March 2020 by the end of May! Speaking of film (and back to bars), Horror Bar is fucking rad, they play a movie pretty much every night and have the best vibe + drinks for the spooky souls out there. Venues are great, Hi-Dive, Larimer Lounge, and Lost Lake are surviving and hopefully semi-thriving. I’m not 100% if Lion’s Lair on is open but fingers crossed. Denver’s DIY art/music scene is pretty legit and there’s a bunch of smaller venues around, hopping around to underground spots and pop-up’s is always great, so keep ‘yer eyes & ears open if you’re searching, I promise you’ll find it/it’ll find you. I will take this time to plug a DIY space that I’m a part of, Greenwave Gallery + K Space Art Studios on 9th & Decatur in the Sun Valley neighborhood, founded by a handful of Spring 2020 MSU grads last year. We’re currently taking some down time, but strive to foster an inclusive space, with programming that highlight womxn and minority demographics as well as facilitating workshops that involve and benefit the local community. The space is attached to a massive warehouse with a large parking lot area, so we were able to pull-off a socially-distant/COVID-conscious concert last October featuring Church Fire & Rare Byrd$ that was a blast, hoping to do more of that this year as the warmer months are upon us. If anyone wants to get involved shoot an email to greenwavegalleryk@gmail.com

I feel like I’m missing so much but we also spent the last year sans-social activities “nights out on the town” so I mean, in the aftermath of COVID it’s a whole-new Denver basically. Get on out and explore ya’ll (and wear your damn mask).


The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

Well, first and foremost I have to thank my mom (HI MOM), she’s been there and supported me, my art, and my education 1000% unconditionally, and she’s just the actual best. (I know most-all of us will say that about our moms, but all my friends will tell you that she actually is, haha.) I love you mom <3 Speaking of friends, I definitely need to give a shout-out to my friends! Ya’ll know who you are, and I have so much gratitude that I have such a solid support system through them. My schedule is forever bat-shit busy and they’re there even if we don’t see each other for weeks or months (or years).

I also want to give a shout-out to my job and all the lovely humans I work with, which I’ve been at for 1.5 years now and have absolutely flourished in. The opportunity to work in mental health and get experience working with not only a full range of demographics, but also with individuals in active crisis and building that skillset now is giving me the most amazing foundation for not only graduate school, but my career at large. My co-workers are all so supportive and set the best example for client care and working as a cohesive team – guaranteed. Every day I learn something new from them (and clients too)! You never know what you’re going to get during a shift, but even after the most intensive day, I leave work feeling fulfilled and knowing that I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

I want to give a shout-out to my godmother as well, she was the first “benefactor” for my art when I was still a budding tween-artist and finding my style, and her support and insisting that she “pay what my art is worth” helped building my confidence in ways that I know would have taken years and years to develop. She’s always been honest, and always supportive, and I owe so much to you Helen. Thank you.

Instagram: @sfurrer_art

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Image Credits
Erynn McConnell