Curriculum Vitae
Cheryl Johnson (Cheri), (b. 1947, USA)
Education
1971 MA, Vocational Education, Oklahoma State University, OK
1970 BA, (Teaching Certification) Tulsa University, Tulsa, OK
1969 BA, Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, OK
Exhibitions
2014 Group Exhibition, Princeville Art Community, Hanalei, HI
2011 Group Exhibition, Elder Gallery, Charlotte, NC
Commissions
2015 2 Works, "Train-Walsh Road "and "More"
Client: Dr. Thomas G.Walsh, DDS Oral Surgeon & Maxillofacial Surgeon, Coeur D Alene, ID 83814
2015 Triptych, "Sea Memories"
Dr. Traselynn Anderson, American Pharmacists Association Member
Cheryl Johnson (Cheri’) b. 1947
Biography
Cheryl Johnson has continuously explored the complex range of human emotions. Creating subtly evocative paintings and works on canvas or paper which appear at once straightforward and cryptic, abstract and figurative. Composed of basic but indefinable shapes and marks, her works often invoke spatial and figural illusions, though they remain elusive of any descriptive narrative. She makes multifarious paintings drenched in color and brimming with movement and emotion whose subject is a blending of faces, figures and environments often obscured to implied void spaces created by numerous layers. The paintings' evolution is evidenced by subtle, interacting arrangements of color, which the artist applies with meticulous attention to the contrasting and physical qualities of her medium, they appear to blur the distinction between matter and transcendence—the result of methodical overpainting and reworking of the image. While abstract, the works are still illusionistic, rendered with sharp attention to shadows, three-dimensional effects, and highlights that defy any single, realistic light source. The resulting canvases convey balance and movement while maintaining a sense of uncertainty, which seems akin to memory. A spiritual connection can be drawn between her paintings and the ambiance of the natural environment. Although she doesn't paint the literal landscape, her inspiration is charged by the idyllic setting of her time spent in both Kauai in her Garden Island studio where she watches the moving of mist across the valley or the ebb and flow of ocean tides complimented by her time exploring from her Charlotte, NC studio the diversity of the Piedmont Regions of North Carolina.
Born in Kellogg, Idaho in 1947. Cheryl is of Finnish and Scotch-Irish descent and in her early artistic career painted both under her familiar and family names: Cheri' and Cherah Boryl Jaurvaii. Cheryl Johnson completed her BA in 1969 at Oral Roberts University, Tulsa Oklahoma. She began her career in Broadcast Television but returned to complete her Masters in 1971 at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater Oklahoma. Her diverse career as a teacher and video producer consummated with an impressive role with IBM as the Talent Organization’s Website Manager, Sr. Instructional Designer and Certified Learning Specialist. Retiring in 2012 she moved to Kauai, Hawaii to focus on painting. She continues to live and work in both Charlotte, NC, and Kauai. Her work has been represented by Elder Gallery, in 2011, where she had her first gallery group exhibition, Against the Wall in Charlotte, NC. In 2014 she was in the Princeville Community Art Show in Hanalei, HI. She aggressively pursues an online presence with Saatchi, Zatista and Art Finder and has completed numerous commissioned works.
Cheryl Johnson’s work is represented by Elder Gallery, Charlotte, NC and Art Source & Design, Charlotte, NC an Interior Designer focused gallery. Additionally, her work is featured in the famous On the Road to Hanalei, HI store. Her paintings are in the collections of corporate and private clients ranging from new enthusiasts to serious connoisseurs.
Artist’s Statement
“My present work has evolved out of my interest in using surface texture to enhance my non-representational and my representational work. My abstract work flows from my belief in the capacity of art to create its own unique world. I begin a painting by making marks, which then lead to color choices and suddenly the painting takes on a life of its own. The paintings are often about the act of painting itself—its gestural rhythms, the power of color, the expressiveness of marks and the interaction of textures. It is a world where I am lost in the finding.”
Cheryl's drive is to pull back the color and noise of life, making quiet the clanging and clutter and many bombarding images and clear the tangles of overlapping branches and discordant feelings to reveal a moment of space that creates a world of color and harmony. Her works are evident of her struggle to find that inner place of peace we all search for. Her bright colours often collide in solid strokes of directional purpose. Dark hues may create form or figure and perhaps our visceral response is to want to look behind the color and shapes and line and find the emotional spectacle that wants to come out. Cheryl often turns the flashlight on memory and forgotten places and faces will emerge.