BIO
Artist Statement
BIO Cheryl Johnson: Unveiling Emotions Through Color and Texture
Abstract artist Cheryl Johnson (b. 1947) You Are a Beauty U R A B U T E Believes in the power of beauty in art. Her gestural works, layered with texture and rich in color, bridge the gap between memory, reality, and the present. Inspired by both her North Carolina studios, Johnson invites viewers on a visual journey, weaving together energetic marks and color fields. Her artwork, widely collected nationally and internationally, hangs in prestigious museums, galleries, and private collections.
Abstract artist Cheryl Johnson captivates audiences with her dynamic paintings, where vibrant colors dance alongside gestural marks and layered textures. Her work transcends mere aesthetics, offering a window into her inner world, a vibrant tapestry woven from emotions and experiences.
Born in 1947 in Kellogg, Idaho, Johnson's artistic journey began at Oklahoma State University, culminating in a Master's degree in 1971. Now, she divides her time between studios in North Carolina and Kauai, Hawaii, drawing inspiration from both landscapes.
Johnson's artistic process is a captivating interplay of intuition and intention. "Painting is a dialogue," she explains, "a way of sharing my internal world externally." Her canvases erupt with energy, each stroke and layer revealing a depth of feeling. She masterfully wields color, line, and light to capture an interplay of time, memory, and reality.
CHERYL JOHNSON
Cheryl Johnson is an American abstract artist whose work has appeared in galleries throughout the US. Her works are held in numerous private collections in the US, Europe, and Canada. She maintains a studio in Kauai, HI and divides her time between there and Charlotte, NC. A highly collectible artist.
ARTIST STATEMENT
"For me," Cheryl Johnson says, "painting is a bridge, a way to share the inner dialogue that shapes my world. I strive to create works that are both dynamic and sensitive, lyrically beautiful yet grounded in truth. Each piece is an exploration of color, line, and light, a tapestry woven from memory, the present moment, and the passage of time. My ultimate goal? To create art that resonates deeply, compelling from afar and inviting closer inspection. Art, at its most profound, has the power to translate emotions into a visual language, and that's the gravitas I seek in my work."
BIO
CHERYL JOHNSON
(b. 1947, Kellogg, Idaho)
Lives in North Carolina
EDUCATION
Oklahoma State University, MA, 1971
An established career level artist whose gestural, abstract paintings are richly layered with mark and medium, sharing a love of both sculpture and painting. She thinks of her work as reflections of her emotions and environment, exploring the beautiful, imperfect and colorful.
Paintings rich in color and line; layered, sensually manipulated surfaces which seem to live and breathe. An act of omission and inclusion perhaps concealing as much as they reveal, and weaving together gestural, energetic marks and fields of color, that draw you in...inviting you to linger over melting colors, painterly passages, to get lost between the lines, and just for a moment, to suspend thought in favor of feeling.
Her artwork is widely collected and in many private collections both nationally and internationally. She exhibits in prestigious galleries across the country and is included in corporate collections.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am absorbed in the moment and want to create a “moment’s pleasure.” I am lost in the finding. Emotions are disclosed; thoughts painted on canvas and hung on hooks to dry. Memories swirl in my head tumbling out. As an artist, whatever I create, I do not forget to factor in my viewer and want them to be drawn in as an active participant. I want to keep my work real, and filled with choices. I paint in layers of color and line.
"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures" -Henry Ward Beecher
My work is driven by emotion and place. I have an intense curiosity about places and faces. I wonder? How do we fit in, what’s our place in the world? Our travels connect each other on a deeper level? We are exposed to unique parts of a place...it’s food, culture and traditions, the dialects and languages, ethnic and architectural components.
In my landscape work I am reminded of Secret Forests I have walked. I don’t intentionally set out to recreate a scene or a specific place and I’m often surprised to see them. It’s a melting of color and light and it is rarely even a single location but elements fused together.
I am drawn to the quality of light, the color of the sky, the mist in the wind, how the climate and terrain are revealed.
Painting is like a dance and requires movement. It is a very physical process for me. Each step is as integral to the process as the application of paint and mark, mixing new colors, searching for inspirations and experimenting with methods of working requires time and dedication.
I am intrigued by line and move back and forth between organic and architectural elements, patterns and textures, colors, calligraphy of my emotions that are paths or marks moving the eye and the emotion. It is the process that keeps me engaged.
“Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colours, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential.”