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THE DANCE OF DEMENTIA
Cheryl Rezendes Thursday, February 1 through Saturday, March 2, 2024 Opening Reception: Thursday, February 1, 5-7:00 pm Art Forum Online: February 15, 7:30 pm (Click for video) |
Movement Disorder, Mixed Media on Fiber, 14.74" x 36.5", Cheryl Rezendes
THE DANCE OF DEMENTIA
Cheryl Rezendes
Cheryl Rezendes will be exhibiting wall-hung fiber art pieces known as art quilts, ranging in size from 20x34” to 34x79”. With the use of paint, dyes, and thread on textiles she presents abstract work that speaks to the emotional and vulnerable states of caregiving for two people she loved who suffered from dementia.
Rezendes employs a wide variety of techniques, such as direct painting on the fabric, monoprinting using original hand-cut stamps and stencils, painting with acrylic, and oil painting with cold wax on panel. All the pieces in the exhibit were created during the years 2021-2023.
The Dance of Dementia is about the difficult and painful eight-year journey Cheryl Rezendes made as caregiver for her husband Alan, who bravely struggled with Parkinson’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease dementia which came about from exposure to Agent Orange when he was drafted to fight in Vietnam. It is also about her role as caregiver for her mother who struggled with both Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, overlapping with Alan’s illness for the first five of those eight years.
The collection is also about the personal struggles for Rezendes’s husband and mother, as they danced between a distant light that periodically still glowed in their eyes and the unfettered and demoralizing decline of both their cognitive and physical abilities. With her mother’s glow just a memory after she passed in December of 2020, Alan’s glow quickly dimmed to a clouded filmy grey, masking the glory of all he once was, until he too passed away in October of 2022.
Rezendes has been an artist her entire life. As she states: “I had the good fortune of having parents who recognized and encouraged my creative side. I make art simply because I have to. It is a life work that runs through my veins, fueling my desire to live this amazing life through all it has to offer me. There has never been a time in my life when I did not make art, even during the hardest of times. My work is very visceral that connects me to something bigger than myself.” It is her hope that her work will speak to people on an emotional level.
Cheryl Rezendes is the author of Fabric Surface Design – a book that covers over eighty techniques for putting imagery on fabric using textile paints. Her work has been in galleries throughout the United States. She was recently juried into the prestigious show Quilt National 2023.
Cheryl Rezendes
Cheryl Rezendes will be exhibiting wall-hung fiber art pieces known as art quilts, ranging in size from 20x34” to 34x79”. With the use of paint, dyes, and thread on textiles she presents abstract work that speaks to the emotional and vulnerable states of caregiving for two people she loved who suffered from dementia.
Rezendes employs a wide variety of techniques, such as direct painting on the fabric, monoprinting using original hand-cut stamps and stencils, painting with acrylic, and oil painting with cold wax on panel. All the pieces in the exhibit were created during the years 2021-2023.
The Dance of Dementia is about the difficult and painful eight-year journey Cheryl Rezendes made as caregiver for her husband Alan, who bravely struggled with Parkinson’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease dementia which came about from exposure to Agent Orange when he was drafted to fight in Vietnam. It is also about her role as caregiver for her mother who struggled with both Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, overlapping with Alan’s illness for the first five of those eight years.
The collection is also about the personal struggles for Rezendes’s husband and mother, as they danced between a distant light that periodically still glowed in their eyes and the unfettered and demoralizing decline of both their cognitive and physical abilities. With her mother’s glow just a memory after she passed in December of 2020, Alan’s glow quickly dimmed to a clouded filmy grey, masking the glory of all he once was, until he too passed away in October of 2022.
Rezendes has been an artist her entire life. As she states: “I had the good fortune of having parents who recognized and encouraged my creative side. I make art simply because I have to. It is a life work that runs through my veins, fueling my desire to live this amazing life through all it has to offer me. There has never been a time in my life when I did not make art, even during the hardest of times. My work is very visceral that connects me to something bigger than myself.” It is her hope that her work will speak to people on an emotional level.
Cheryl Rezendes is the author of Fabric Surface Design – a book that covers over eighty techniques for putting imagery on fabric using textile paints. Her work has been in galleries throughout the United States. She was recently juried into the prestigious show Quilt National 2023.
Sometimes the Light Gets Through, Mixed Media on Fiber, 34" x 79", Cheryl Rezendes
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Art Forum Online
Thursday, February 15 at 7:30 In an Art Forum Online on Thursday, February 15, Cheryl Rezendes will discuss her work and the complex array of techniques she uses to create her fiber art pieces, known as art quilts. We will share images from the exhibition, discuss her materials and creative process, and Rezendes will read a passage from her memoir-in-progress titled “When Loss Became Life.” The Art Forum is part of our Art in Community II outreach program. It is supported in part by grants from the Amherst Cultural Council and the Springfield Cultural Council, local agencies, supported by Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. |
Fading Memories, Mixed Media on Fiber, 47.5x41.5, Cheryl Rezendes
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