Cherie Dacko
Artist

To be emotionally attuned to each phase of life is a dominant theme of American artist, Cherie Dacko. It is these artistic sensibilities that are displayed in her work through vibrant color and layers of images, often with a historical perspective.

 

With family roots in Chicago, Cherie is a locally grown native, having lived on the west coast of Florida since early childhood. She graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in Fine Art, having studied under the direction of acclaimed artists Theo Wujcik, Bruce Marsh and Jeffrey Kronsnoble.

 

Following college, Cherie joined the El Sama artist co-op in Ybor City, Florida. Her early work displays the searching style of a young artist and is embodied in her drawing "Self Portrait," a pencil study that shows technical skill and nearly disappears in its delicacy .

 

However, it was her "pay check" job that allowed Cherie to perfect her current style. After thirteen plus years in commercial negative retouching, antique photo restoration, and airbrush retouching, Cherie developed award winning skills for re-creating photo quality images of the human form. Knowing the proper visual cues necessary for photography enables Cherie to offer commission quality portraiture, or to layer images in major works of acrylic, oil and prismacolor pencil. "When Sheep Cannot Sleep" and "Liberty," are two large-scale acrylic paintings that illustrate the power of
her color and imagery. "Sheep" represents the dichotomy of stress and restfulness, of anger and calm, with cool greys and greens lending a garden-like feel. "Liberty" was painted immediately after 9/11, and enabled the artist to cope with grief and to vent a surprising surge of patriotism.

Although disparate images are a constant theme in Cherie's work, she has a natural resistance to conceptual art. Her life experiences as a mother, from world travels, and as a collector of vintage imagery and textiles leads her toward realistic art "with a twist".

 

Her working studio is located at Gallery on First in Sanford Florida. Cherie's commissioned art hangs in the Sant Yago Gallery, Columbia Restaurant, Ybor City, Fl. and in multiple homes, schools and libraries throughout the Southeast. She currently is exhibiting at Maitland Art Center's "Postcards from Paradise" competition, and as Florida Artist of the Month, will have a solo exhibit at the Museum Shop's Founder's Gallery, Orlando Museum of Art during the month of October, 2006.

Cherie resides with her husband and son in Wekiva Springs, FL and is active in the Maitland Art Center as both art teacher and associate board member.

 

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