An Abundant Life - A Feeling Of Place

The first time I met Cheryl Sylivant, I had a feeling that I'd known her before. We were at an opening at 107 Bowers Gallery in Jersey City Heights, and I was listening to a song that was playing and remembering back to a time in my life when I'd heard that song for the first time. I don't remember now what song it was, but it was something that brought me back instant memories of the time when I'd first heard it, and though the night was warm and everyone had walked outside, I stayed inside to listen to the song and remember. At some point or other Cheryl asked me a question about what I was feeling as I looked at the art, and I told her that though I was enjoying looking at the art, it was the song that was giving me the strongest emotion. We talked for a bit and she explained that she was an Intuitive Artist, and that she could feel emotions of a place or space very clearly at times. I could tell during our conversation that there was a great deal of depth in this beautiful woman, and when she shared with me that her own paintings would be in a solo show at one of the Condominium buildings in Jersey City, I put it in my calendar to try to be there during JCAST, the Jersey City Artist Studio Tour.

When I went recently to meet with Cheryl in her studio, I shared that when I stopped by during JCAST, though I had thought her work was very beautiful and vibrant, I hadn't gotten the same sense of its power as I did when I visited her studio and saw it there. Within the walls of her studio space, though not as open as the Condominium Lobby, there was a feeling of the breath of life that runs through all of her pieces and that brings them to life and touches the heart and soul in a way that is measured beyond words. We took some time that afternoon to talk, as the rain turned to occasional sunshine and then back to rain again, and though I had another appointment to go to, I decided to stay and talk because the feeling of talking with Cheryl is a powerful one. She has had many life experiences and has traveled all over the world, painting canvases both large and small that reflect the feeling that she gets from the places where she is painting. I've done a fair amount of traveling myself, and as I spoke with Cheryl I began to remember years gone by and trips I had taken, people I had met and places where I had discovered something so personal and unique that the memories have stayed a part of me forever. As I sat in the slowly darkening glow of an afternoon light, the paintings in the space all around me seemed as if they were sharing some secrets, just waiting for the proper moment to touch that place where they could tell their stories and help heal and renew.

Cheryl Sylivant works intuitively, painting from living things, and she is a healer whose work reaches into the deepest places of herself as she allows the places where she is painting to speak their volumes to her and then in turn speak to the viewer of a story all their own that they can share quietly or shout from the rooftops because of a language that speaks to the heart. After studying Painting and Art History at the University of Pennsylvania, she went on to The Art Students League of New York, studied Filmmaking and Design at New York University, and obtained a degree in Psychology from the University of North Carolina. On her website, she uses the descriptions "Metaphors of Living Energy" and "Art That Engages Your Brain" to describe her work, and it is true - when you look at her paintings, they draw you in and take you on a journey. In her Artist Statement she writes, "See what you see, they are non-linear maps about energy, humor, overcoming, and love of life amidst the vulnerable chaos," and her paintings are so full of life and energy, so engaging and powerfully and vibrantly full of color, that they seem to radiate a sense of wonder of place and space and add a feeling of the joy of just simply being wherever it is you find yourself. There is also an amazingly delightful sense that comes over the viewer that the place that has been painted could be a place from memory or dream, a place entirely your own though it was depicted from the hands and mind and heart of the Artist. It is that sense that draws a connection between the viewer and the Artist, that feeling that the paintings are not a foreign ground but one that is familiar. It is a feeling that draws the eye happily from place to place, from color to color, and from image to image. A visit with Cheryl Sylivant is a meeting of minds - of her very intricate and exuberant vision that calls upon your very own personal memories and opens new pathways for them to travel.

The Art Of Cheryl Sylivant

http://www.cherylsylivant.com/

Blessings,

Jannie Susan