A Tuesday reception kicked off “Travel Is Good for the Soul,” an art show at the Glencoe Mansion, Museum and Gallery in Radford featuring 26 original pieces by renowned Floyd-based artist Cheryl P. Mackian.
A late-blooming artist, Mackian’s career took off when she was in her thirties and began taking her creativity seriously by enrolling in a series of art classes. When she experimented with oil paint for the first time, she realized immediately that she had found her medium and her creative voice. Within six months, she was juried into the co-op Floyd Artists Association, taking commissions and selling her paintings.
Mackian’s paintings are decidedly original. Her trademarks are her use of light, vibrant color and unique angles of perspective. She has described her creative process as beginning with a rough outline, after which she works intuitively across whatever surface she is using. She often constructs a painting layer by layer using brushes, scraping, palette knives, her fingers and any other improvised tools she may have handy so as to convey her vision.
Born in Staunton, Va., Mackian’s early work reflected motherhood and her rural home.
A trip to New York City in 2011 proved to be a turning point in Mackian’s art. She found her inspiration in the energy, the immensity and the diversity of life in the big city. Her works feature people, architecture and the motion of the cities themselves. Her paintings celebrate motion, color and the beat of the city itself.
As an emerging artist, Mackian was profiled in the December 2008 issue of Vennue Magazine. Her work is in the Carilion Foundation collection, and one of her pieces curated into Healing Art in the Blue Ridge, a book showcasing the foundation’s highlights. Her work can be found in private collections across the country.
Mackian’s work has won numerous awards including the Best in Show prize and the first place Oil and Acrylic award at the 2019 Piedmont Arts Expressions Show and the first place Oil and Acrylic Award at the same show in 2014. She also won the Award of Merit for Oil and Acrylic at the Piedmont show in 2018.
There is no admission charge for the exhibit
The Glencoe Mansion, Museum and Gallery is closed on Mondays and is open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1-4 p.m. on Sundays.
