By Yvonne Wright • The Current Contributing Writer
Since the Renaissance, it has been implied, argued and defended that artists are not made but born, and are therefore blessed with that special gift of creativity that is hard-wired into their identity from the outset. Driven by a passion for creative expression, visual arts practitioners engage in a variety of artistic mediums, those intuitively and professionally most suitable for their skills and experience. And when life’s responsibilities require them to take a temporary creative hiatus, artists continue channeling their talents through domestic and job related activities.
Cheryl Popek is one of those gifted individuals who has always sought a creative expression in anything she did. “There has always been that creative urge burning inside me” admits the artist, a registered nurse by trade, whose fondness for oil painting as her favorite artistic medium developed early on, and was self-taught at first. However, family obligations and job requirements had limited Cheryl’s time to paint and grow as an artist – only to return to art years later upon her retirement in 2015. The same year, highly motivated Cheryl began taking art classes at the Davenport Studios in Lehighton, where she received valuable professional training from renowned Pennsylvania artist Jay Davenport, who specializes in highly realistic trompe l’oeil art. His three-dimensional, illusionistic paintings suited Cheryl’s professional goals. Under Davenport’s tutelage she could finally devote herself to improving her technical skills and deepen her understanding of color, light, texture and composition – while also briefly seeking a differentiated artistic direction from another Pennsylvanian artist, Chelsea Herron, whose painting classes at the Ani Art Academies Waichulis in Bear Creek were most informative.
In the five years since her retirement, Cheryl, as a self-driven perfectionist, has become an accomplished artist who has mastered several difficult painting and drawing techniques, including powdered-pigment based mediums of pastels and charcoal, which she uses intermittently with her otherwise most preferred oils. She paints almost every day in her Lehighton studio. “Portraits are my passion” claims Cheryl emphatically, “when I see an interesting face and feel inspired to paint,” and she does just that by requesting a sitting session with the person of interest, or by capturing a random pose on her phone.
Popek’s Innocence is a recently commissioned oil portrait of a young girl tenderly holding a Teddy Bear. Her demure is soft and dreamy, as if captured in quiet, almost spiritual contemplation. She is juxtaposed against an abstract backdrop only hinting at the light source. The girl emerges from the misty shadows half sitting, but we are not sure if she is real, or perhaps this is only an illusion that brings back our childhood memories and its innocence. The work is carefully executed in predominantly warm browns, fleshy beige tones and greyish blues that complement the background’s dusty pinks. The artist’s skillful use of soft blends has created an impression of harmony – making it pleasant to the viewer. The carefully depicted fabric textures, the bear toy and youthfulness of the girl’s skin, all softly lightened by the defused light show how much Cheryl has learned over the years, and what she is capable of now. This painting clearly demonstrates Cheryl’s power of observation, her sensitivity to emotions and ability to tell a story in an art practice that not only strives to be an expression of the artist’s self, but assures the viewer of the better side of the world around us, its gentleness and goodness.
Cheryl Popek belongs to the Carbon County Art League, and over the years she has won several prestigious awards at various local art exhibitions. She won the Peoples Choice Award at the 11th Annual Palmerton Area Library Show, First Place in the 12th Annual Palmerton Area Library Show, the Peoples Choice Award at the Lehigh Gap Juried Art Show, and First Place at the Chamber of Commerce Art Show.
Once an Emergency Room nurse working in a highly stressful and fast paced medical environment, today, as a visual arts practitioner Cheryl is nurturing her inner artist with a mission to keep expanding her artistic vocabulary and perfecting her skills, as long as she holds her brushes. No doubt, and we are wishing her many great accomplishments in the future.
Yvonne Wright is the owner of STUDIO YNW at 100 West Broadway in Jim Thorpe.
She can be reached at studio.ynw@gmail.com
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