Ghost Ship Gallery

Cheryl has been interested in creating art since a young child in Upper Michigan but life delayed that immediate pursuit. In 1989, her desire to create was again sparked after purchasing a pastel painting from a local artist. Since then, the challenge of creating paintings in oils and soft pastels has been her fundamental focus. 

Numerous workshops and ongoing private studies with nationally known artists including Albert Handel, Jim Robinson (The Art Academy), and Joseph Paquet have provided the crucial educational underpinnings. Cheryl also regularly draws from life by attending a drawing cooperative.

Her efforts have produced recognition for her paintings with artwork regularly juried into national exhibits, awards at outdoor painting competitions, Master Circle award from IAPS, an award of a two-week residency, and a feature on the television show "MN Original" in 2011. Cheryl’s future goals are to continue to master the oil painting medium, create larger studio pieces, teach classes, exhibit nationally, participate in outdoor painting competitions, and continue to hone her craft. 

Cheryl lives and works in a suburb of St. Paul and also enjoys painting in western Minnesota after purchasing a farmhouse and renovating a shed studio with plans to teach, exhibit, and host workshops. Cheryl can be found throughout Minnesota, the Upper Peninsula, and the Tahoe area painting landscapes outdoors. During inclement weather, her home studio provides the foil to create still life and figurative work.

Cheryl is a member of many art organizations including Oil Painters of America, Outdoor Painters of Minnesota and past President of the Lake Country Pastel Society.

Artist’s Statement

Painting in time honored, representational traditions, I seek to evoke a sense of place and a point in time. My paintings have oftentimes been labeled as sensitive to the subject matter. My affinity for the natural world seeps through, as time is layered upon the canvas. My creative instincts show my desire to communicate the depth of moments that unfold in nature. In some way, my paintings are is a sort of self-reflection and a longing to make an eternal mark. 

My main focus, painting landscapes directly outside, originates from my spiritual connection to the land and reverence for nature's raw beauty. Studio paintings of nostalgic still life objects and figurative works feature the nature world as observed through the human imprint. 

I continue to study to develop a sensitive eye and practiced touch – it is this ongoing challenge of art to which I am truly drawn.