Evolution of Art at Beanetics: ESSENCE by Cherie M. Redlinger

Today we took down the photographs by Kathy Strauss and hung the next show, ESSENCE, by Cherie M. Redlinger. Both women are members of the Women's Caucus for Art. Their work is so very different. Kathy's work explores the outer world, looking for the patterns and textures that visually enrich our lives. I hope you had the chance to see Kathy's brilliant, vivid photographs. And I hope you will come by Beanetics this month to see Cherie's work. It is definitely worth seeing. Cherie's work explores the textures of the inner world. One of my favorite things about curating this art space is that I have the opportunity to talk with artists about their process and learn the stories behind their work. As Cherie and I hung her show, she talked about what inspires her as an artist and what motivated her to do this series. We sat down for this interview about the seven pieces she has hanging in this show.


JJ: What motivates you as an artist?

CMR: Many of the images in this show come from experiences in LA. There is such a variety of people in LA. It was visually stimulating place to live. Other images arose from the experience of moving my mother into an assisted-living facility. Still others reflect memories of a vacation with my husband in the Caribbean.

JJ: When I do my best art, it is the result of following an inner process. As we hung your art, you also talked about your art as a process. Can you tell me about your process for creating this series.

CMR: The content of each piece is drawn from life's abstractions of emotions everyone shares: love, hate, joy, fear, beauty, happiness, romance. I created a hybrid art form, which I call, ESSENCE, as a way to put onto the canvas the very essence of these experiences.

Each piece begins with a contour drawing that I sketched in my notebook as a way to capture an experiential moment in time. Then I glued a lithograph print of the drawing onto the canvas. Then I sprayed on a texture. Next I added color in layers. I found that I needed to get more directly involved in the process, so I used my hands to mix paint on the canvas, the way I mix paints on the canvas like it was an etching plate. This way, I was able to build up the layers of colors. As a result of this process, the lines on the drawings faded. So I took a very fine 00 brush and went back in with oil paint to deepen the contour lines.

JJ: How did this series actually begin?

CMR: When I first began this series, I was drawing a multitude of figures on the page. I decided to simplify the content. I got a sketchbook and decided that I would do only one figure per page.

I took my sketchbook with me on a trip from the East Coast to West Coast. That was the trip where I and my siblings were getting together to pack up my mother's belongings and move her to an assisted living facility. It was a deeply personal, emotional time.

The first image I drew was "Hurry Up and Wait". You know that feeling? I was at the airport two hours before my flight to LA., sitting at the bar, sketching. I began drawing the feeling of that moment; the essence of hurrying up to wait. That is the moment when this series began. There were 23 pieces in the series.

JJ: Can you tell me about the seven hanging here at Beanetics?
CMR: The plane ride out to the west coast was turbulent. "Don't Worry, You Won't Break" is what I told myself on that ride.






“Full and Content” was about the feeling of being really hungry on the plane and finally being able to sit back and eat because the turbulence had finally stopped and I was feeling good.
“Engulfed” explores the difficulties of going through the family dynamics with my siblings as we pack my mother’s belongings.


"Mama Mia" is a piece about seeing my mother after we moved her into her new home before I left to fly back to the East Coast. I was struck by how small and child-like she looked as they pushed her chair into the table.



“Breaking Out” explores the feeling of strength that returned as I was leaving LA after this experience.






JJ: And you continued this process after your trip to LA?

CMR: Yes, I continued using the sketchbook to record individual moments (good, bad, and ugly) in my life. One of my favorite memories occurred on vacation with my husband in the Bahamas. My husband was helping me on a photo safari when we heard children laughing. First we heard them and then we saw them. They were school children dressed in black and white uniforms. I noticed that the school was integrated, in the sense that both black and white children were at school together. I realized that only a few years ago, this would not have been the case. Black and white children in black and white uniforms; smiles on their faces. It was beautiful. It was just beautiful. “Rollin’ Thru” expresses the happiness I experienced as we "rolled thru" their world. Happiness to me is a round feeling. I liked that scene of the children happily playing together so much I did several “Rollin’ Thru” images. This one is "Rollin' Thru 5".




JJ: Thanks for sharing your process, Cherie. It has been a real pleasure talking with you and learning about your art. I look forward to many more conversations about the inner and outer process of making art.

Cherie: Thank you.