SSS Welcomes New Artist, Cheri Peden

Being a “child of the south” I’ve come to love and embrace my southern heritage and the memories it evokes. Growing up in the mountains of rural Arkansas, I spent a lot of time exploring outdoors, enjoying what was wild, organic and available. My earliest attempts at art were a reflection of the natural things and the native Ozark people that surrounded me. Years later when I worked in marketing and advertising, my art took a back seat and was forgotten. I was almost forty when my son was born and we moved to Jackson, Mississippi where I fell in love with southern Acadian architecture and the New Orleans influenced culture of the area. It was different, yet familiar and there were always adventures and interesting characters to meet.

The Sweet Potato Queen festival or the old capitol downtown where Eudora Welty once lived and wrote her collection of stories, were always places that provided colorful backdrops, stimulating and influencing my long forgotten creativity.

As I was always passionate about preserving history and stories of the past, I became inspired to paint on the discarded architectural odds and ends I would find during some of these forays and excursions with my fellow artist friend Dana. It has been so much fun and gives me so much pleasure seeing old stuff get a “new life”.  I hope others can appreciate the value and the simple Southern way it represents.