Arizona’s largest and longest-running artist studio tour, Hidden in the Hills, returns for a 26th year during the last two weekends of November, Friday through Sunday, Nov. 18-20 and Nov. 25-27. Queen Creek artist Cheri Reckers is one of 174 artists who will exhibit and sell her new work during the free, self-guided tour.
Coordinated by the nonprofit Sonoran Arts League, Hidden in the Hills showcases nationally recognized and emerging artists at 47 studios throughout Cave Creek, Carefree and north Scottsdale. The popular event attracts thousands of patrons who appreciate fine art and seek a variety of mediums, styles and price ranges. With the event taking place the weekends before and after Thanksgiving, the art tour also attracts holiday shoppers who want to find an original, unique gift.
Painting nature’s beauty on silk
Reckers will travel nearly 60 miles to be a guest artist at Elaine G. Coffee’s Studio No. 37 in Cave Creek. A master silk painter, she will exhibit a variety of colorful paintings and wearables that are inspired by elements of nature.
“I've been drawing and painting since I was a little kid,” Reckers said. “My parents started sending me to after-school art classes in the first grade after my teacher noticed that I had a special talent. So it's no surprise that I have had a career in the arts my whole life.”
Reckers has been a professional silk painter for more than 30 years. She earned her BFA with honors from the Columbus College of Art & Design in Ohio. Her award-winning artwork has been exhibited at the New Mexico Museum of Art and the Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Fe and as far away as Tokyo and New Zealand. In addition, she is a signature member of Silk Painters International with "Master Silk Painter" designation.
Her primary medium is fiber-reactive dyes on silk or silk blends. Most of her work is created using a painting technique that involves painting freely onto the silk and avoiding the use of resists or wax commonly relied upon in traditional silk painting.
“I like the fluidity of dyes, their transparent quality and vibrancy of color,” Reckers said.
Sometimes the challenges of painting on silk can be daunting.
“There is no ‘erasing’ mistakes or anything you want to change,” Reckers said. “Once the dye is on there, it's on there. Like it or not, you have to work with the mark you put down. And you cannot paint light over dark, as you could with acrylic or oil. The dyes are transparent, and they work similar to transparent watercolor.”
Part of her silk painting process requires the fabric to be steamed after painting to make the dyes permanent.
“If the fabric gets wet during this process, the dyes will run and ruin a piece or pieces that I may have spent weeks on,” Reckers said.
Her most recent work focuses on her fascination with the seasonal rhythms and colorful textural patterns of the plants, animals and wide luminescent skies of the Sonoran Desert surrounding her home in the San Tan Mountains.
For maps and details, visit HiddenInTheHills.org.
