Cheryl Johnson (born February 12, 1947) is a female American Abstract Expressionist Artist. She was born in Kellogg, Idaho. In her early years, she lived in the Rocky Mountains on the border of Idaho and Canada surrounded by immense beauty. Nature was her playground and inspired her to create art from a very young age.
She is of Finnish, Swedish, and Scotch-Irish descent and in her early artistic career painted both under her familiar and family names: Cheri' and Cherah Boryl Jaurvaii. Cheryl graduated with a BA from Oral Roberts University, MFA from Oklahoma State University, and an MA from the University of Tulsa. She began painting professionally in 1969 and has had numerous shows throughout her career. She studied and worked in her early career as a Teacher, Video Producer, and Director. Skilled as a videographer, commercial artist, and designer she moved to North Carolina in the early 1980s. She has continued to paint throughout her varied career while working in the corporate world and retired from IBM to paint full time in 2010.
American Artist, Cheryl Johnson is best known for her strong use of color, and intuitive mark making. Resonating with the Abstract Expressionists, as well as the language of figurative painting, Johnson’s art consist of abstract paintings more often made of mixed media, oil, acrylic, industrial materials; latex, flashe. Combining brushwork with bold splashes and drips of color that encompasses mark making that is poetic and gracefully formed and at times boldly colored––that emerge in an uncanny, perfect balance. Her large-scale paintings investigate the potential of big, aggressive brushstrokes and vivid color to convey emotion.
Johnson’s subjects range from abstract themes inspired equally by the landscapes to intimate figurative studies and poignant faces. By presenting two suites of paintings from her disparate styles in dialogue with one another, Cheryl Johnson will offer viewers a concise and rare opportunity to examine how one artist explores media, technique, and style — developmentally, artistically, and spiritually — through two seemingly oppositional, but nonetheless complementary, bodies of work.

The bright colors and multiple layers of her paintings create energy, space, and psychological impact, while the figures are staged like actors in a play.