Bio
In 2011 Cherry Taylor retired early from the State of Texas after twenty years as a software engineer to pursue a lifelong dream of studying fine arts and music. She currently attends Austin Community College and works in her studio where she experiments with many types of media including wood, metal, paint and fabric. Ms. Taylor plays guitar and sings and recently began recording her original music. She also practices Kung Fu and Tai Chi.
Ms. Taylor enjoyed her first juried show at the Old Bakery and Emporium in November, 2015. In addition to being selected for the People’s Gallery Exhibition of 2016, she was also a finalist for the Hunting Art Prize for 2016.
Artist Statement
For nearly twenty years I worked as a software engineer for the State of Texas but my free time was always spent using my hands to create something.
My mother steered me away from art growing up and I know she was only trying to protect me from a life of poverty and ruin. That had a lot to do with my inability to call what I did art. Art was only something you did after all the important things were done and there just wasn’t a lot left after all the important things got done.
I could have kept working after I was laid off in 2011 but when I found out I was eligible for a small pension, I just felt like the universe was handing me the ticket to go and pursue my lifelong dreams of studying art and music.
Sometimes I am tempted to define what being an artist is or what success as an artist means, but I try not to. I know what it is at a deep level. At the core, it’s an irresistible urge to pick up that brush, stick, fabric and begin to move it in a way that reflects what’s inside of me. I have something to say which has no words. Art for me is healing and reconstructive.
Color is extremely important in my work and always part of the message. I often work in monochromatic or nearly monochromatic color schemes to help in expressing the theme of each piece. I do not limit myself to any one medium or concept but rather ask myself how best to describe what I’m trying to say whether that is glass, paper, fabric, metal or paint.
I began working in fabric in 2013 using my quilting skills to produce artwork that is closer to tapestry than quilt. I love the textures and the soft organic feel that I get with thread-painting (using embroidery thread to “paint” over fabric). The process feels like a combination of several techniques–painting, airbrush, watercolor, sewing. It’s a slow and gentle process.
My subject matter tends to come from my response to nature, animals and scenes which I have experienced that give me that sense of wonder. The desire to be an artist has a lot to do with studying my connection to the world around me.
Recently someone looked at one of my pieces and they were drawn closer to it and their eyes lingered and danced around to all the corners and then made the trip again. I realized in that moment, that is what it means to be successful – to make a connection with someone else.
