Medium: Ceramic
Booth #: GS42C
Artist bio: Cheryl Mackey Smith – Fine Ceramics – Fairview, NCCheryl Mackey Smith was born in Schenectady, NY in the mid-1950’s to an accomplished artist mother and an engineer father. Her parents encouraged her artistic endeavors from a very early age. Cheryl loved to explore the outdoors with her older brothers from the time she could walk! They would roam the woods and collect rocks, twigs, and other decomposing forest elements on their explorations! She maintained a large rock collection catalogued in cardboard egg cartons on shelves in her closet! When Cheryl began her art career studying at Jacksonville Univeristy under Mon Quan in the 1970’s she painted graphic-stylized watercolors of abstracted mountain and marsh scenes. She would cut her paintings into small squares and circles or roll and fold the minute paintings into tubes and other shapes to develop her repetitive designs. She loved piecing together the smaller elements to create a large piece of art. Her career path led her to become an award winning Art Educator in Central Florida. During this time, she attended the University of Central Florida and received her Masters in Art Education. While working on her degree, she worked with many different clay bodies to explore new methods for creating her inspirations from nature and the minute elements of the earth. Cheryl taught at the university level for eight years. She and her husband, Randall Smith, an abstract painter, have recently moved to the mountains of Western North Carolina where she continues her hunt for rocks and twigs to gain inspiration for her clay pieces. They are exhibiting their fine art throughout the United States. Her nature-based ceramic abstractions can be found in many private collections across the United States, and abroad. Cheryl works closely with designers who have installed her work in public spaces and private collections including Marriot Hotels, Seaside Banks, and corporate offices nationwide.