Cherry Pickles has shown with Jill Yakas Gallery since 1993, when she had her first one person show in Greece. One person shows with Jill Yakas followed in 1997 and 2003. Ms Pickles also participated in British Artists in Greece in 1995, when a number of her works were purchased for the collection of a prominent Greek bank, and A British Gallery in Greece in 1998. Both shows were curated by Jill Yakas as part of Britain in Greece and Britain and Greece, two prestigious Festivals organised by the British Embassy and The British Council, Athens.

Cherry Pickles was born in Wales. She knew from an early age that she wanted to paint; however her father insisted that she should first get a 'serious' degree for the sake of her future security. She thus chose to study mathematics, and graduated with a B.Sc. from the New University of Ulster in 1973. In 1977 she got a BA Painting 1st class from Chelsea, and in 1979 a Postgraduate Diploma from the Slade. In 1987 she won a National Portrait Gallery award - 2nd prize. She has also been awarded several travel grants and scholarships enabling her to travel, paint and exhibit in Italy, the United States, Jordan, Greece and India.

Cherry Pickles first came to Greece in 1987 and liked the wildness of the landscape and the friendliness of the people. Greek Government scholarships in 1991, 1994 and 1995 allowed her to come back and paint; she has made several short visits on her own and several much longer visits with her family. Her landscapes painted almost entirely out of doors, are as much about the experience of working in the often dramatic places she chooses, as about the view from them. She sets herself challenges of subject and situation, almost deliberately making things difficult for herself. Cherry lives with her husband and children in Wales. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

I have painted more landscape in Greece than anywhere else. The light, colour and severity of the land is dramatic. The shape and weight of stones at sacred sites insist on powerful, ancient reverence for place.

The self-portraits, although sometimes painted in rented rooms on the same journeys, are a different sort of work. Clearly my own physical self is, in part, the subject matter but I am not primarily concerned with what I look like. Sometimes I interfere with the story by allowing the clumsy mechanics of self-portraiture to intrude - the artist's hand, the brush, the paint, the mirror. I also allow the cracks, the smears, the repetitions of the mirror, to compete with the figure for the viewer's attention. However, I don't want to lose the embarrassment you feel when you suddenly catch sight of your own unedited physical image or when your lonely behaviours are unexpectedly made public.

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