Mixed Media
Cheri O’Brien’s work benefits Girls Inc.
Marked by somber expressions and knowing looks, narrative folk artist Cheri O’Brien’s portraits of children seem to capture hints of the adults they will one day become. O’Brien, whose solo exhibition Cheri’s Kids opens at Cheri O’Brien Fine Art Gallery on Friday, Sept. 28, has been painting children in oils and acrylics for the past 30 years. Although the show includes portraits of boys as well as girls, girls are the focus. When she first started painting kids, she felt there were not many heroines for her own daughters to look up to, so she created her own.
O’Brien is a self-taught artist who fills her compositions with quirky characters, dogs, birds, cows, and other creatures, as well as stuffed animals, flowers, and religious icons. She blends a sense of joyful expression with hints of woe, and her visions of the Wild West are full of whimsy and wistfulness in equal measure. Her vibrantly colored portraits are often set against subdued backgrounds.
In Cheri’s Kids, each child’s portrait expresses self-awareness, innocence, intelligence, and individuality. Ten percent of the sale of each painting goes to support Girls Inc. of Santa Fe, a nonprofit organization devoted to enriching and inspiring girls through long-term mentorship in a pro-girl environment and research-based programs. Girls Inc. works with girls between the ages of five and eighteen across Santa Fe County.
Cheri O’Brien Fine Art Gallery is located at 618 Canyon Road. The reception for Cheri’s Kids is at 5 p.m. and the show runs through Oct. 22. For more information, call 425-308-2061. — Michael Abatemarco