Primary Website: Cheryljohnsonartist.com

BIOGRAPHY

Cheryl Lynn Johnson (born February 12, 1947) is a female American Abstract Expressionist Artist.  She was born in Kellogg, Idaho. In her early years, she lived in the Northwest in the Rocky Mountains on the border of Idaho and Canada surrounded by immense beauty. Nature was her playground and inspired her to create art from a very young age.  Today Cheryl lives in Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, NC. 

Cheryl Johnson is of Finnish, Swedish, and Scotch-Irish descent. In her early artistic career, Cheryl painted both under her familiar and family names: Cheri' and Cherah Boryl Jaurvaii. Cheryl graduated with a BFA from Oral Roberts University, MFA from Oklahoma State University continuing with two years of study toward Doctorate Degree. She received an MA  in Education and Teacher Certification from the University of Tulsa. Her family migrated from Kemi Finland and settled in Canada in the 1800's, working a farm in Hughendon, Alberta. Her parents moved to the U.S. and ran a small motel in Eastport, Idaho on the Canadian Border. Yearly family vacations across Canada from the states kept her interested in the beauty of nature that has influenced her work to this day. 

Johnson’s family moved a number of times during her childhood, finally settling in Spokane Washington. She was involved with art through high school and college. Cheryl’s early work was realistic and focused on portraiture and then she moved to a strong abstract orientation. A formative experience, especially for her color sense, was the summer following college graduation Johnson spent painting the landscape in France and then traveled to her family homes in British Columbia Canada to continue her en plein air work. She currently maintains studios both in Charlotte, NC and in the island of Kauai in Hawaii.

Cheryl Johnson began painting professionally in 1969 and has had numerous shows throughout her career. She studied and worked in her early career as a Teacher, Video Producer, and Director. Skilled as a videographer, photographer, commercial artist and designer she moved to North Carolina in the early 1980s. She has continued to paint throughout her varied career while working in the corporate world and retired from IBM to paint full time in 2012. 

Cheryl Johnson has an intuitive and deliberate style of oil, mixed media and acrylic paintings that build and unfold through layers of lush colors, aggressive brushwork and drips pushing and pulling off the sides of her canvases. Her paintings are based on memory, photographic references, momentary impressions of interactions with nature; a synergy of the amorphous changes in her surroundings. She focuses on emotion and experiences, discovering life’s little moments of energy and inspiration. Rather than focusing in on familiar or notable locations or landmarks, she pauses and considers the special aha! moments of life and nature. She records the intimacy of being a part of an experience. Observing with no preconceived idea or agenda, she attunes her senses focusing on the sounds and smells that bring back memories. The exploration of city living and the freedom of island life is evident in her work. She studies faces and the friction of people’s emotions. She notices movements in trees as familiar as wind passing her skin and remembers the tones and adjacent colors filling her visual eye field. Only after the reference to memory or experience, does she start to visualize a painting.

An established artist, Cheryl Johnson is defined as an individual who has a lifetime of painting and who has more than 50 years of experience and is at a mature stage of her career, with an extensive body of work and a history of public exhibition.

Selected Featured Exhibitions

2/2019 NC Arts and Science Council CSA Community Supported Art Grant Recipient Charlotte, NC (created 50 paintings given to sponsors, shareholders)

10/2018 The Other Art Fair Saatchi Art Brooklyn, NY (100 Juried Artists Show selected from over 2500 artists)

2015-2016 9th & 10th Annual Princeville Fine Arts Show Princeville, Kauai, HI

2010- 2019 Art Source & Design Featured Artist, Charlotte, NC

2009-2019  Carolina’s Got Art annual juried art show, Charlotte, NC (one of the largest juried art shows in the country in the Queen City)

2011 Elder Gallery Group Abstraction Show, Charlotte, NC 

2010 Charlotte Art League Featured Artist One Woman Show, Charlotte, NC (oldest nonprofit art gallery and organization in Charlotte)

Selected Public and Corporate Collections

IBM, Charlotte, NC

Carillon Building, Charlotte, NC

Online 

Saatchi Art 

Amazon 

Houzz  

Zatista 

Art Finder

Commissions

2018  Kathy Cravier " Caliente", Charlotte, NC

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

ARTIST STATEMENT

"I wish to ignite a sense of joy. I create paintings that reflect the people and moments that touched my life. I allow imagination and emotion to commingle into memorable creations. My works are a collection of memories, philosophies, and experiences. I hope to enliven a sense of connection and optimism and strive to create beauty and a moment’s pleasure."

ARTISTIC CAREER

Cheryl has painted professionally since 1969 and has had numerous group and individual shows in galleries while pursuing a corporate career. She has exhibited her works in North Carolina, Oklahoma, Massachusets, Canada, Hawaii, Montana, Idaho and Washington States.

Additionally, Cheryl is well traveled and lives in winter months in Hawaii and shares a home and studio on Kauai showing her work in island galleries. 

Cheryl has a thriving Online Presence where she sells her work directly as well as with Gallery Representation.

ART WEBSITES

• Cheryljohnsonartist.com: https://www.cheryljohnsonartist.com/home

• Cheryljohnson.co:  https://cheryljohnson.co/projects

• https://cherinow.wordpress.com/author/cherinow/

• Cheryl Johnson Houzz: https://www.houzz.com/pro/artcheryljohnson/cheryl-johnson

BLOGS

Cheryl Johnson Studio Blog - Blogger: https://cheryljohnsonartistblog.blogspot.com/

Writes on Medium: https://medium.com/@cherinow

STRONG SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

• Twitter   https://mobile.twitter.com/cherinow

• LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-johnson-64694580/

• Tumbler   https://www.tumblr.com/blog/cherinow

• Google Plus https://plus.google.com/u/0/+CherinowCherylJohnson

• Dribble   https://dribbble.com/cherinow

• Pinterest  https://www.pinterest.com/cherinow/

• Medium  https://medium.com/@cherinow

• Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.johnson.1675

• Google Plus Cheryl Johnson Artist  https://plus.google.com/u/0/111909262070132383026

• Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/cheryljohnsonartist/

• Youtube  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4Zfevnx2lzlbN2nIaFckAg

• Zatista  https://www.zatista.com/artist/cheryl-johnson1

• Saatchi  https://www.saatchiart.com/account/artworks/410719

• Saatchi Profile https://www.saatchiart.com/Cherinow

• Artfinder: https://www.artfinder.com/cheryl-johnson#/

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=art_artist_search?node=6685269011&field-keywords=Cheryl%20Johnson

STUDIOS-CHERYL JOHNSON Paints prolifically in both her studio and enjoys En Plein air painting. Cheryl is very connected to her family and is blessed to keep studio spaces in her sister's properties in Idaho, Montana, Vancouver Canada, England. These environments inspire her diverse, vibrant works, and her focus on Abstract Expressionism. She works in series and has a large body of work focusing on Secret Forest Paintings and Abstract Landscapes. She effortlessly moves between oil, acrylic, watercolor and mixed media. The bright colors and multiple layers of her paintings create energy, space, and psychological impact, while the faces and figures are staged like actors in a play.  Cheryl completes many commission works and is also a skilled portrait artist and photographer and has shot many corporate videos, also weddings and corporate affair events. 

GALLERY REPRESENTATION

Elder Gallery (Larry Elder) Group Show 2011-2017 1520 S Tryon St, Charlotte, NC 28203

Art Source & Design -1950 Abbott St # 604, Charlotte, NC 28203 -(704) 344-9736

On the Road to Hanalei -Hanalei, Kauai

Art in Embassies, a program within the U.S. Department of State, creates vital cross-cultural dialogue and mutual understanding through the visual arts and dynamic artist exchanges. Where is the art exhibited: The art is installed in the representational spaces of U.S. embassy residences, chanceries, consulates, and annexes around the world.

Participated in CHARLOTTE ART LEAGUE. The oldest nonprofit art gallery and organization in Charlotte offering monthly exhibits, working studio spaces, outreach programs.

EDUCATION

• 1965-1969 Oral Roberts University

• 1970 BA: Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Oral Roberts University 

• 1970 BFA Degree Oral Roberts University 

• 1970 BA: Bachelors of Arts Teacher Certification Oklahoma State University - Stillwater, OK.

• 1971-1972: Master’s Degree Oklahoma State University - Stillwater, 

• 1973: Unique completion of  doctorate and graduate university programs at the University of Tulsa 

• 2004: IBM Certified Learning Specialist LANGUAGES - French/Beginner

• LANGUAGES - English -French/Beginner

• *2012: Retired Corporate Business Profession to become Full-Time Artist and Photographer

• 2019 CURRENT ARTISTIC FOCUS Full-Time Artist. Painting and Photography 

CHERYL JOHNSON PHILOSOPHY

"My work is an attempt to channel and express my thoughts often revealing my inner emotions. My paintings are personal.  Conscious thinking is eliminated and I get lost or perhaps found in the pure enjoyment of creating. I paint what I have seen and what moves me. I create to provoke emotion,  thinking, and discourse.”

ARTISTIC FOCUS SUMMARY

With a distinct style that merges abstraction with representation in increasing degrees, her work brings together instinctive compositions while revealing her precise powers of observation. Remarkable for their compositional rhythms, bold coloration, and sweeping gestural brushstrokes, Johnsons’ paintings bring alive the fundamental quest to express something personal, subjective and emotive, in a poetic, abstract way. American Artist, Cheryl Johnson is a painter best known for her strong use of color, and intuitive mark making.  Resonating with the Abstract Expressionists, as well as the language of figurative painting; interested in creating paintings that invite viewers to spend more time with an artwork to expand their ways of seeing. She has created a body of work based on gestural energy and the intuitive expression of deep inner emotion.

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Cheryl considers herself more in line with Abstract Expressionism since her workflows from the deep well of her inner emotion. Johnson’s art consists of abstract paintings more often made of mixed media; oil, acrylic,  latex, pastel, charcoal, oil crayon.

In a career that has thrived through multiple evolutions in style, she combines brushwork with bold splashes and drips of color that encompasses mark making that is poetic and gracefully formed and at times boldly colored––that emerge in an uncanny, perfect balance. Her large-scale portrait paintings investigate the potential of big, aggressive brushstrokes and vivid color to convey emotion.

Johnson’s subjects range from abstract themes inspired equally by the landscapes to intimate figurative studies and poignant faces. By presenting two suites of paintings from her disparate styles in dialogue with one another, Cheryl Johnson will offer viewers a concise and rare opportunity to examine how one artist explores media, technique, and style — developmentally, artistically, and spiritually — through two seemingly oppositional, but nonetheless complementary, bodies of work.

ARTISTIC STYLE TECHNIQUE

Summary: Large-Scale Painting, Large/Loose Brushstrokes, Women Artist, Contemporary Figurative Painting, Gestural, Splattered/Dripped, Painting, Line, Form, and Color, Mixed-Media, Oil Painting, Sculpture and Photography.

Cheryl Johnson is clearly a modernist painter whose work has its style and roots in abstract expressionist traditions. Her style is uniquely her own. Layers of color and line are elegantly composed and delicately balanced. Her work is mesmerizing, as colors bend and shift like seasons, subtle lines morph in and out of focus, imagery whispers beneath the surface.

Johnson remains devoted to the craft of paint on traditional surfaces. Her early years of working realistically with the figure provided a strong foundation as she moved into non-objective work. Working intuitively, allows her to favor emotion.

In her most recent body of work you sense, the beauty and impermanence of nature. Her travels to her home in Kauai surrounded by ocean waves, open taro fields, and dramatic mountain views, allows her to interpret the constantly changing scenery. Balancing surface texture and form, passages of serenity and calm contrast activity. 

Using Encaustic technique as well as glazes create translucent areas next to opacity and luminosity, richly textured surfaces seem stitched together with a line and vibrate with the elusive qualities of natures seasonal change.

“Abstracting from nature has unique rewards and challenges” according to Johnson. “— I desire to create mood and emotion by not giving away too much, by implying and suggesting the poignancy of light and the mesmerizing qualities of a world in constant change and flux. I believe nature is abstraction in its purest form creating simple beauty and after all that is what remains.”

CV (CURRICULUM VITAE)

• Corporate Business Professional skilled in Multiple Areas. Considered to be a C+ Level Executive and Thought Leader. 

• Cheryl L. Johnson proved herself as a multi-faceted professional with deep expertise in adult learning and creating corporate learning content, instructional design elements, websites, marketing, learning and performance improvement solutions for large and small organizations.

• Ms. Johnson is an expert in adult learning, creative concept, branding and strategy development for sizeable interactive learning, video and marketing campaigns. In her 25+ years of corporate business experience, Ms. Johnson has demonstrated success in managing strategic corporate initiatives and provided thought leadership in innovative performance improvements in many industries. She is a skilled Graphic Designer, Producer, Videographer, and Photographer.

PROFESSIONAL CORPORATE SKILLS HIGHLIGHT SUMMARY

• Ms. Johnson has a proven ability to motivate and inspire cross-discipline creative teams to deliver superb creative work under tight deadlines. A thorough understanding of project management, website, and instructional design; and is a thought leader in adult learning theory, standards, and practices. 

• She can quickly become a trusted advisor and is an engaging presenter, skilled graphic artist, and writer with varied talents in graphics and fine arts.

• Senior Level experience in International Sales and Marketing. Having produced creative and compelling e-learning and videos for fortune 100/500 clients (IBM, AT&T, Prudential, Nortel, Piedmont Gas, GridSouth, NC Department of Social Services to name a few.

Professional Career Resume

PROFESSIONAL CORPORATE BUSINESS CAREER

1969-2001

ABC Broadcast Television Producer, Tulsa Vocational Education Instructor, First Commodity Corporation of Boston, Commodity Director, McDonalds Corporation-Play&Paint Contractor, Owner Video Works

2001 - 2004 OWNER and Sr. Consultant and Independent Contractor, CLJohnson Consulting - Charlotte, NC

• 2002- Creative Director/Senior Instructional Designer/Instructional Technologist. SOS, Intl. Created training in North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) Designed Online University Training Concept.

• 2003 Computer Based Training Sr. Instructional Designer.  County Department of Social Services (DSS)/Information Technology-Charlotte, NC. Designed and developed 30 hours of e-learning for an integrated solution: Developed a proprietary customer data management software.

• 2004 Project Manager and Team Lead Integration/Merger Sr. Instructional Designer. Piedmont Gas: NC Designed and developed Customer 

  • Principle Consultant supported Fortune 100/500 clients. Ms. Johnson used a unique combination of skills, expertise and learning experience to design, develop and manage projects. Additionally, Ms. Johnson utilized strong writing and graphic design skills. Leading project teams on complex engagements for multiple clients.

  • Responsible for delivering projects for customers that are on-time, on-budget, and on-scope.

  • Identified new business opportunities with the customer and followed the proper process for ensuring the cultivation of those identified opportunities.cv

  • Performed Business Analysis - Worked with customer personnel to help understand business challenges and strategize regarding a solution design and implementation for addressing those challenges.

  • Drafted deliverable documents, proposal content, work estimates, leading internal and customer meetings, providing sales support and designing and delivering presentations as well as reviewing all types of communications and deliverables from other team members.

  • Managed large and multiple project P&L(s) (budget) and work closely with all project resources to ensure that the project is within the allocated budget.

  • Acted as a leader and mentor for other Managers and Business Consultants and individually managed the day-to-day activities of the project team resources.

2004 - 2012 IBM

Multiple Roles with IBM as Senior Leader, Management Team- C+ Level

• IBM Sr. Instructional Design, Talent Website Manager, Training Specialist, 

• IBM Talent-Learning & Workforce Management:  Websites Manager, Graphics Designer for 25 internal sites; a suite of career programs and resources available to 450,000 IBMers to integrate the work of recruitment, learning, workforce management, business and technical leadership, and global mobility to pursue talent strategies in a highly coordinated, focused and purposeful way.

• IBM Workforce Management Global Community of Practice Leader; established multiple communities to enhance leadership, workforce management, and social media connections.  

• IBM Expertise Management Specialist. Website Manager/Communications lead. Created Career Smart, Expertise Taxonomy, Expertise Assessment and Career Framework websites; supporting enterprise-wide global HR system employee replacement, skills, and capabilities assessment tools. Created 27 sites accessed globally by 450,000 IBMers to update their skills and expertise.

• IBM Talent Website Integration Project Leader: Lead initiative to analyze, reduce and maintain Workforce Management sites globally. 

• IBM Business Consulting Services: Supported critical internal/external clients, i.e., Freddie Mac, National City, IBM Retail Sales, IBM Delivery Excellence. Executive Leadership. SKILLS and COMPETENCIES

IBM Titles: Training Director

• Lead project teams on complex projects and manage multiple engagements for multiple customers.

• Responsible for delivering projects for customers that are on-time, on-budget, and on-scope.

• Identified new business opportunities with the customer and followed the proper process for ensuring the cultivation of those identified opportunities.cv

• Performed Business Analysis - Worked with customer personnel to help understand business challenges and strategize regarding a solution design and implementation for addressing those challenges.

• Drafted deliverable documents, proposal content, work estimates, leading internal and customer meetings, providing sales support and designing and delivering presentations as well as reviewing all types of communications and deliverables from other team members.

• Managed large and multiple project P&L(s) (budget) and work closely with all project resources to ensure that the project completed within the allocated budget.

• Acted as a leader and mentor for other Managers and Business Consultants and individually managed the day-to-day activities of the project team resources. 

IBM Sr. Instructional Designer

• Training Director and Sr. Instructional Development team lead and instructional designer. Has strong abilities to design, develop, evaluate, and maintain learning programs in the areas of business systems, customer service and sales, new hire training, and processes. As an instructional designer skilled in instructor-led and web-based training materials. Designed and developed new content, ensuring high-quality delivery of the program. Courses were available in global locations. She developed an assessment tool for courses and reviewed results of the curriculum.  

• Cheryl Johnson facilitated virtual design overviews for the train-the-trainer sessions for trainers who delivered the program(s). She followed the standard ADDIE instructional design process for all projects. Consistently adhered to departmental design, editorial, and branding standards to ensure the highest possible quality. - Applied proven process to assess business and audience needs and created training materials that met business objectives. Developed creative and innovative activities, exercises, simulations, and customized content to engage learners and ensure on-the-job application of skills. Coordinated project teams for mid-sized to large initiatives. She planned and facilitated team and project-related meetings and effectively managed projects using established project templates to document tasks and deliverables. Additionally ensuring all tasks were completed with accuracy to detail and on time. Proactively communicated progress and built strong relationships with business partners.

Professional Corporate SKILL QUALIFICATIONS

• 20+ years in learning or human resources consulting experience.

• 15 + years of instructional design experience

• 10+ years of experience developing courses using e-learning development applications (e.g., Breeze, Captivate, Articulate, Dreamweaver or a related system) - Working knowledge of adult learning principles - Demonstrated ability to analyze needs, create learning objectives, design interactive learning activities.

• Skilled Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom user. 

Eternal optimist

Studios in Charlotte, NC, and Kaua'i. Artist, writer, photographer, and Imagineer. I paint emotions, people, places and things. I write about Feelings. I am an American Abstract Expressionist Painter and Photographer.

Changing the world one great idea at a time.

As Ansel Adams says... “When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” And to quote my favorite painter, Joan Mitchell. "Feeling is something more; it’s feeling your existence. It’s not just survival. Painting is a means of feeling ”living”… .Painting is the only art form except still photography which is without time. Music takes time to listen to and ends, writing takes time and ends, movies ends, ideas and even sculpture take time. Painting does not. It never ends, it is the only thing that is both continuous and still, Then I can be very happy. It’s a still place. It’s like one word, one image." I agree...I want my work to exude joy, celebration, measured clarity and a sense of self. Creating art is more about communicating what I’m feeling than what I’m seeing.

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