Hi! I'm Sharon Steere.  

       I'm the artist, shoppe owner, web master-designer, and also cut wood and dump the trash!  My family and I live in the small village of Waterloo.  It is in the Elkhorn-Platte River Valley in the heart of America-Nebraska.  We are just east of what is now Omaha, with only the Elkhorn river separating us from the town of Elkhorn that was recently annexed by Omaha.  Our ancestors settled here back in 1855 and our descendants have lived here ever since.  So there must be something about this quaint little village we all are attracted to!
 
My husband, Bill and I have been married since 1967 and have one daughter, Sheri.   Sheri is a talented artist and floral designer, she also creates new designs and paints, too.
 
Our Business Beginnings
Country Sister's began back in the early 80's.  This is a picture of us three sisters.  I'm the oldest, Sharon, in the center, (Linda always tells everyone that I am the oldest)  so here is Linda, who is the shortest (got cha!), Julie is the baby of the family and she is on the left.  And there you have the Country Sister's.
Actually, our first craft show was in 1978. I'll never forget it.  It was Santa's workshop at the Waterloo Public School.  The items we sold were painted in oils and people had to be careful how they carried them because they were still wet!  I can't believe we sold anything, but we did sell a few items that first show! That was the year my mom and sister, Linda and I had decided to take 6 weeks of tole painting classes at a community center in Omaha. The Priscilla Hauser method was taught in oils.  I soon took off with creative ideas of my own!  I have always liked to draw and wanted to do my own thing.  The move from oils to acrylics was a natural one.  First, I was allergic to turpentine and secondly, I wanted things to dry faster!
 
I wanted a shoppe so bad, that we remodeled this small 10' x 14' shed that is in our back yard.  It was no easy job.  Our dog at the time helped to chase out the pair of resident rodents and we undertook a thorough cleaning of the shed. It had been built back in 1948.  So it needed a good cleaning! We wired, insulated, drywalled and panelled, stained and varnished, painted and stencilled and installed a pot belly stove for heat.  We also installed a telephone.  We built shelves and I made curtains for the little shoppe.  It wasn't long before we outgrew it when I started giving art classes.

 
 
 
Over the years we have held Home Parties, wholesaled at the gift markets, sold products nationally, put our work in consignment stores, put on boutiques and participated in them.  Our work has travelled the world and we hope with our website shoppe we will expand even more!
 
My youngest  sister, Julie came up with the name Country Sister's.  She's a natural when it comes to painting and being creative.  We were very busy creating and selling our wood crafts.  The whole family has helped out at one time or another; all show casing their artistic talents.  We thought the name, County Sister's fit us well.  We are sisters and we felt a kinship with those who have bought from us over the years, whether male or female.  It is a sisterhood of kindred spirits.
 
My Background
When I first began painting, I also started taking art classes that eventually led to a Commercial Art degree from Metropolitan Community College, a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and K-12 Art Education teaching endorsement from Creighton University.  I am a substitute teacher plus I work on what I love- designing, painting and pursing my art!
 
My Family Background
My mom has always used artistic skills in decorating her home.  She also kept us busy when we were little with all kinds of art projects.  My sister, Linda is our village, Library Director and Julie is her librarian assistant.  They use their artistic skills enriching the lives of children an adults in our small community.  They draw a huge number of children to the storytimes they present.  They keep the little ones entertained with all kinds of crafts. There most famous crafts are the ideas that they come up with using toilet tissue roll cardboard cylinders!  When they go to the library regional meetings, the other librarians, wonder what they will come up with next using these recyclables!
 
This is in memory of our two dogs, who went to the Rainbow Bridge in April of 2009.  Mitzi and Sadie were 14 years old.   Mitzi is the Maltese on the left and Sadie is presumed to be Lhaso Apso mix.  She was a stray we adopted when she was three.    They looked rather guilty in this picture.  I caught them typing a letter to Santa Claus. They were not suppose to be using the computer!
 

Linda's three children are all artistic, Thom has a BFA in art, Mindy does too, and is following in her mother's footsteps as a librarian part time and as a mother chasing after a one year old, "Little Bink" as she is nicknamed! She has an interest in photography.  Mindy's husband is a computer geek. Jeff is in landscape design and maintenance.  Jeff makes unique acrylic and wooden pens as well as other woodworking.  His wife Mandi makes these fabulous stuffed critters, you are sure to love.

My sister, Julie has three kids that also have artistic talents. Käj is a computer geek and works for Apple, he also does photography for senior pics and weddings his web site is under my links section.  Dane works for a construction company and has his own businesses on the side:  first, he repairs motors and then he does construction and landscape.  He has a web site with both his businesses on it.  It will be in the links page.  Hanna is pursuing a career in Photography as well.  She is attending college currently.  She is also talented vocally as a singer.

My dad, I am sure is where I got my desire to work with wood and use hammers and nails.  When I was little he would give me a penny a nail to pull nails out of wood for him!  My dad was in the heating and plumbing business, I'm sure he wanted to make a plumber out of me, but I resisted and took up some of his other interests instead.  My dad is known as our town's historian and he also knows a lot of geneaology information.  I share these interests.  At some point in the future I would like to add my family tree to my web site.

My husband, parents and grandparents have all been very supportive of my artistic pursuits.  We have all had supporting spouses that were willing to help out at art and craft shows and in the creative processes!  My grandfather, was an amaterr photographer, he exhibited in European Salons in the 1930's.  He had a camera by his side from the time he was 8 years old and his father gave him his first camera until he died at age 89.  My grandmother was a elementary school teacher and also an antique dealer for most of her life.  She also loved to paint in oils.

We hope you will enjoy our diverse variety of art and will visit us often as we bring you a variety of interesting things.


 

 

 

 

 

Country Sisters is our registered name.

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