Conversations with the Inspiring Cheryl Clinton

After high school, I went to Massachusetts College of Art and earned my BFA in Painting. I had great opportunities to travel during and after college to Greece and Italy. The surf of Skopelos, Greece, and waterways of Venice, Italy, inspired my focus on the landscape. After a few years of working as an assistant in a small graphic design shop and teaching in an afterschool program, I decided to pursue an advanced degree in painting. I completed my MFA in Visual Design from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 1998.

Once out of undergrad, I realized how isolating the world outside of school could be. So, I set out immediately to find a studio space outside my home. In addition to having a dedicated work space, I wanted to connect with other artists. My first studio was at Saxonville Studios, housed in the old Roxbury Carpet Mill, in Framingham. This space was full of connections for me. My grandfather worked in the space when it was Roxbury Carpet. It was here I learned from other seasoned artists, how run a successful open studio event. After a few years sharing a studio there, I set out to find a space I could afford on my own. This search led me to the Bancroft Building, located on the south side of Framingham. Big windows, lots of empty space and affordable rent made it a perfect setting for artists.

In January of 1997, I was settled into the studio I grew up in over the next 20 years. At that time, the building was in a transition, as many of the manufacturing tenants were moving operations to less expensive areas of the country. I made it my mission to fill the building with artists. Within a year or two, the population of artists reached 18, enough of a critical mass to organize an open studio event. This event became a highly anticipated annual event for the public and artists alike. Over time, the community grew to include over 75 working artist studios and a gallery.

After many years of open studio visitors asking, “are you open year ‘round?” I partnered with photographer, Marie Craig to open Fountain Street Fine Art, so we could change the answer to “yes!” Together, we set out to grow a gallery that would showcase the undiscovered professional artists of New England, including, but not limited to, the artists at work in the building’s studios.

Sadly, all good things come to an end, and the building was abruptly closed in 2017, forcing the gallery, artists and other tenants to find other spaces to work. Change is hard but led to new opportunities and better spaces for the majority of tenants. Our option for the gallery was to close permanently or move. So, move we did! In the spring of 2017 within a few short weeks, we moved to Boston’s SOWA district and rebranded as Fountain Street Gallery.

The closing of the Bancroft was the catalyst of much change for me personally and professionally. Moving out of the studio, I spent the formative years of young adulthood into (almost;) middle age was a challenge. It triggered me to examine where I was putting my focus and made me reprioritize how I was spending my time. The move prompted me to step down from my role as co-director of the gallery, to allow more time to focus on my studio practice and my family.

Managing time and money is always a major challenge. There always seems to be more of one than the other, or a shortage of both! Outside jobs, networking, and marketing bring in money but take up time. Time to be in the studio does not always match the need to create work. It has been my privilege to have the support of my family and friends along the way. The artist network I have developed over the years has been integral to my development and success as a practicing artist. The best advice I can offer is to be true to your vision and nurture relationships that feed you and your work in a positive way. Mistakes will be made, learn from them, so you can make new ones, rather than repeating old patterns.

My last show at Fountain Street was in October 2018. “At the Edge” featured my most recent paintings and Vicki McKenna’s platinum/palladium photographic prints. Both bodies of work focus on the idea of the dynamic balance that occurs at the edge. Our images illuminate the contrast, change, and complexity produced by interactions in the natural world.

Water and reflection, both physical and emotional, are at the core of these paintings. Witnessed reflections at the edge of the water, sky, and land; as well as moments of meditation, study and reflective thought, mingled in the making of these paintings. In several pieces, I wrestled with the image in my mind against what appeared on the canvas. When I was able to slow down and listen, a wiser part of myself suggested play and experimentation would lead the way to fresh work. Stepping out of “efforting” through a piece, and into the freedom of play, felt risky and uncertain, like walking blindfolded through familiar, yet shifting, terrain. Pouring, dripping, troweling, wiping, and layering paint all take part in my process. The playful experiments, begun as warm-up exercises for the “real work”, became the seeds for the Memory Map and Dreaming Series featured in this exhibit.

This current body of work sits at the intersection of intuition, process, and reflections. The pieces in this show evolved as a call and response process. The images are filtered through memory and feeling, ideas and materials. They are an attempt to express a sense of awe and wonder often sparked by surprise or ephemeral moments of beauty. In this series figuration and abstraction coexist, as the dance of spark and flame, idea and form – multiple ways of speaking the same idea – describe the light, articulate the sensation of a place or moment. I intend these paintings to reflect the beauty and be the window to spirit. Here is a link to the work from this show: https://www.fsfaboston.com/edge