From the time she could walk, Cheryl loved to explore the outdoors with her older brothers! They would roam the woods together 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! 

Her current body of hand-formed ceramics speaks directly to her love of the natural world. She carefully hand-forms each and every small clay piece to depict aspects of nature, whether real or abstracted. The smokey pieces have been pit-fired following being kiln fired, to add the depth of color and visual textures to the clay. Cheryl pit-fires the small pieces in an outdoor fireplace using leaves, sticks, and twigs from her property. The smokey and ashy pieces are then scrubbed clean before adhering to the archival backings. As she applies the kiln-fired and pit-fired ceramics to the backings, her knowledge of composition and feel for the random occurrences in nature develop into the finished framed fine art ceramic wall pieces. 

“Each work is created by compiling many smaller elements, each delicately sculpted in a peaceful and orderly manner. I feel the viewer attracted to my work relates freely to the zen-like quality that transpires.” 

Website: www.cmackeysmith.com