Making Marks: Cherie Daly

August 15–September 8, 2024

After enrolling in Central Tech’s Adult Art Program, Cherie Daly explored various mediums, but it was her passion for abstract painting that led her to individual teachers like Suzanne Metz. Cherie paints in a shared artists’ studio at 100 Sunrise Ave., Toronto and in her custom-built studio at her cottage in Muskoka. When not painting, she can be found walking along the Beach boardwalk in Toronto or through the woods in Muskoka with her dogs. Cherie’s work has been exhibited at venues like the Federation Gallery Vancouver, Artist Project, Toronto and the ADC Fine Art Show, Cincinnati.

Please join us for the opening reception of Making Marks on August 17 from 1–4 pm. All are welcome!

I am a fairly quiet person, but a very loud painter. Where I might hesitate to make my feelings known verbally, I let my paintbrush speak. I paint quickly with acrylics, using blends of bold primary colours and very physical, full-arm strokes. My internal dialogue and feelings are translated through movement into the work using a variety of mark-making tools. My process is playful and free. The work is left raw, retaining its energy and initial vitality. Not seeking perfection, I strive to find beauty in the unplanned while creating space for the viewer.

I have titled the show “Making Marks” because my primary joy in painting non-objectively comes from making marks and responding to them. While an abstract painter needs to consider the “principles of design”- harmony, variety, contrast, balance, rhythm, and movement, the process to achieve this is often one of trial and error, putting on and taking off, working from intuition, not a plan. Generally, I like to use my whole body to put energy into the marks. Other times. I like to use a variety of tools to make different marks - including stencils and printmaking. Painting is a process of making one mark and then another. Some of the works in this show have very few, simple lines, collage and shapes. While others have more energized brush strokes. Each mark is individual and thus unique. Leaving the brush strokes in the work, allows the viewer to feel he is an active participant in the making of the art –not just an observer. And through my creation of abstract work I am making my mark on the world. I am expressing myself through marks, in order to communicate and connect with others.
— Cherie Daly

Available Work