About the Artist
A virtual tour of Crested Butte Center for the Arts’s current Kinder Padon Gallery show featuring Cheryl St. John.
Cheryl is an artist that paints primarily in the plein-air tradition. She is a fourth generation Colorado native with a great appreciation of nature, the environment, and the preservation of both. Born and raised at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and with parents that enjoyed the outdoors, Cheryl was introduced at an early age to the beauty of the Colorado mountains and developed her own love for the landscape that influences her artwork today.
Cheryl paints mainly with oil but loves to work with watercolor as well. Each medium has its own characteristics which when using clean vivid colors and as few brush strokes as possible makes for a loose impressionistic finished work of art. She states, “Keeping the painting fresh and not over-worked is part of the fun and challenge of a good artist. I want the viewer to be able to feel what I felt when painting the piece…. Feel the warm sun, or the cool breeze, or whatever else is going on nearby, and therefore capture the essence of the scene for themselves.”
Cheryl’s paintings have been presented in prestigious national shows such as The American Impressionist Society, Oil Painters of America, Gilcrease Museum, Customs House Museum, Windows to the Divine, and the Governor’s Invitational, to name a few.
Cheryl studied fine art and design at The Rocky Mountain College of Art and at the Colorado Institute of Art. She also studied with well known artists Scott Christensen, Kim English, Quang Ho, Ken Bachaus, and Michael Workman.
She is a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society, Oil Painters of American and Plein Air Artists of Colorado.
She has won numerous awards and is currently in corporate as well as private collections around the world.
Resumé
Most Recent Juried shows & Invitationals
- Oil Painters of America, 2021 Western Regional Exhibition, Wichita, KS
- Oil Painters of America, 2020 Salon Virtual (online) Exhibition
- Oil Painters of America, 2020 Western Regional Exhibition, Illume Gallery, St. George, UT
- Mountain Oyster Club Annual Exhibition and Sale 2015 through 2021
- Art for the Sangres, Annual Exhibition and Sale, 2020 and 2021
- The Broadmoor “Art Experience Plein Air 2020 – 2021 Invitational”, CO Springs, CO
- “Customs House Museum and Cultural Center” Invitational Exhibition, Tennessee, 2019
- National Oil and Acrylic Painters of America, Best of America Small Works Show” RS Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX, March 2019
- “Weekend in the West” Invitaional Exhibition, Lucky Penny Ranch, Evergreen, CO, 2018
- Oil Painters of America, “2018 Salon Show,” Crooked Tree Art Center, Traverse City, MI, 2018
- “Impressions, Markings and More” Windows to the Divine Invitational, Denver, 2018
- Borrego Springs Plein Air Invitational, Borrego Springs Art Institute, 2018
- Wanderlust, Invitational Landscape Exhibition, Howard Mandville Gallery, Kirkland, WA, 2017
- One Woman Show, Saks Galleries, Denver, CO, 2016
- Oil Painters of America Western Regional Exhibition 2016, Marshall Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
- Windows to the Divine ”Abstraction & Representation, Finding Common Ground,” Space Gallery, Denver, 2016
- American Impressionist Society’s Annual National Juried Exhibition 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015 2016, 2017
- Gilcrease Museum, Collectors Reserve, October 2014 and 2015
- Mountain Oyster Club 46th Annual Sale and Exhibition 2015
- Salon International, Greenhouse Gallery, 2014
- American Impressionist Society’s Annual National Exhibition 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014
- Oil Painters of America 22nd Annual National Exhibition 2013
- Oil Painters of America Western Regional Exhibition 2012
- Art & Soul 25th Anniversary Sale and Auction for the Art Students League of Denver 2013
- Windows to the Divine Invitational 2012
- Crested Butte Plein Air Invitational 2012 & 2014
- Governor’s Art Invitational, 2011 & 2014
- Capitol Christmas Tree National Art Competition 2012
- Richard Schmid 17th Annual Fine Art Auction 2012
- Lone Tree National Art Exhibition 2007 – 2012
- Plein Air Artists of Colorado National Juried Exhibitions 2007 – 2014
- Invited to provide oil painting demonstrations for the Denver Art Museum April 2013 during Georgia O’Keefe exhibit
Recent Awards
- Honorable Mention, Oil Painters of America, Online Showcase, 2016
- Artists Choice and 2nd Place, Continental Divide Land Trust Plein Air, Breckenridge, CO, July 2015
- 2nd Place, Continental Divide Land Trust Plein Air, Breckenridge, CO, July 2014
- Award of Merit, Plein Air Artists of Colorado National Juried Exhibition at Abend Gallery 2013
- Honorable Mention, Denver Plein Air 2012
- Grand Prize for the 2012 National Capitol Christmas Tree Art Competition and Official Image. “Awaiting Spring” oil on linen, was selected and is now in the permanent “Gallery of Trees” art collection of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC.
Represented by
- Saks Galleries, Denver, CO
- Wild Horse Gallery, Steamboat Springs, CO
- Gunnison Gallery, Gunnison, CO
Corporate Collections
- James Volker, Whiting Petroleum, Denver, CO
- Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center, Lafayette, CO
- Almerica Financial Group, Denver, CO
- Adams County Historical Society, Westminster & Ouray, CO
- Title America, Westminster, CO
- David Puterbaugh of the Leisy Brewing Company, Peoria, IL
- Atlanticare Regional Medical Center, Atlanta, GA
- Center for Childbirth, NJ
- City of Hope Medical Center, Duarte, CA
Published In
- Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, “Highlighting Women Artists Over 50” March 2019
- Southwest Art Magazine, “Artists to Watch”, June 2014
- Amidst the Madness, Poetry and Paintings, Author: Jennifer Kenyon, 2013
- Southwest Art Magazine, May 2013
- Denver Post, Your Hub, November 13, 2012
- Front page, Denver Post, Saturday, August 11, 2012, Photo of Plein air painting for Denver Plein Air Festival
- American Art Collector Magazine, October 2012
- American Art Collector Magazine, June 2010
- Southwest Art Magazine, October 2009
- Rocky Mountain News, 2007
- Denver Post, 2006
- The Daily Camera, 2000
Associations
- Signature member of the American Impressionist Society
- Associate member of Oil Painters of America
- Signature member of Plein Air Artists of Colorado