DECEMBER 2024 Newsletter

SUN LIFE OF CANADA ACQUIRES “GLYPHS ON PAGES OF A 1957 ENCYCLOPEDIA.”

I continue to marvel at and be gratified by the attention my Glyphs are receiving. I labored over them for years with sparse attention from collectors, only to now experience them becoming more and more sought after. Fortunately, I have lots more to share, with another full set of vintage encyclopedias waiting in the bookcase.

As I reported in the two previous newsletters, they have also been acquired by the National Museum in Havana following their exhibition in the Biennial, thanks to artist Ben Jones. Now, a lovely lady in Canada, Allison Mueller, has discovered me. Twenty-eight have been acquired by Sun Life, the top-rated insurance company in Canada, which ranks on the 2024 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. The original Glyphs will be framed and featured in the lobby of their corporate headquarters. They will also be on the cover of the next annual report.

A printed replica of the Glyphs and a film crew were sent to my studio to record me painting more, talking about my practice, the concept behind the Glyphs, and why they are such a perfect match for a company with the ethos of Sun Life.

SPECIAL GUESTS VISIT THE STUDIO

Thanks to the generosity of my fellow MAD Museum Executive Board Member, Susan S. Ach, who won the MAD auction bid, she and two of her lovely friends visited my studio for a tour. Of course, I served them my world-famous salads while sharing the past, current, and future projects on display in my studio. It was a wonderful experience and a great way for me to contribute to an institution that has played a pivotal role in my career and ability to give back.

FOG Design+Art

Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA

I am excited to be participating in programming during FOG Design+Art on Sunday, January 26, at 1 PM. I’ll be joining artist Chantal Hildebrand and moderator Key Jo Lee, curator at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), for a thought-provoking talk inspired by the museum’s current exhibit, “Liberatory Practices: Cultivating Sovereign Interiors.”

Together, we will explore how art, activism, and Black liberation intersect to shape intimate, protective spaces that foster joy, rest, and revolutionary potential. Drawing on themes from the exhibition “Liberatory Living: Protective Interiors and Radical Black Joy,” we’ll discuss how domestic spaces can transform into powerful sites of resistance and empowerment.

During the talk, I’ll also share visuals and the stories that inspire my work, illustrating how I use symbols and materials to create meaningful pieces that connect personal and cultural narratives across time.

If you’re in the area, please join us. Let’s reimagine what liberation can look like—together!

MUSEUM - QUALITY ART FURNITURE AVAILABLE FOR SALE

Own a Masterpiece: Arizona/New Mexico Portal Mirror (2008)

I am offering a rare opportunity to acquire the "Arizona/New Mexico Portal" (2008) from my private collection. This totemic work of functional art was exhibited at the Museum of Arts & Design (MAD) in New York City during the "Global Africa Project" exhibit (November 2010–May 2011).

The great American Southwest holds a special place in my heart. I love driving through its colorful, majestic scenery filled with history—seeing a rain cloud miles away across the flat terrain. My visits to reservations were particularly memorable; a Shaman once gifted me a packet of sacred sand, and I often walked through the brush discovering skeletons and artifacts that tell stories of past and present lives. In this piece, I pay tribute to prehistoric and early human times, when the area was an ocean teeming with turtles, native peoples chipped arrowheads from stone, buffalo roamed, and smart wild turkeys eluded hunters with ease.

This mirror is one of a pair. The other, "San Francisco/New York Horizon," was purchased by a prominent music industry publicist and has a more urban, industrial aesthetic. My hope is that Arizona/New Mexico finds a home in a museum, where it can be accessible to all, professionally cared for, and preserved for future generations to experience.

If you or someone in your network is interested in acquiring this piece, please email me at cherylrriley@gmail.com with the subject line: "Mirror Inquiry." I’ll be happy to provide further details and answer any questions. Ensuring this piece of art finds a meaningful home is very important to me.

Shipping: The buyer will handle all crate, insurance, and shipping costs and arrangements.

For further inquiries, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

BADG AT THE COOPER HEWITT - SMITHSONIAN DESIGN MUSEUM  

New York, NY

November 2, 2024 To August 20, 2025

My vitrine assemblage, “AFRICANA/AMERICANA, 2024,” is featured, along with fellow BADG members, in the current “Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial” at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum’s Library in New York City. This exhibition explores how design shapes the physical and emotional realities of home across the U.S., its territories, and Tribal Nations. Featuring 25 site-specific installations, this year’s Triennial delves into the many ways in which homes are built, reimagined, and experienced. The full exhibit is installed throughout the historic Andrew and Louise Carnegie Mansion.

My contribution in the Library engages with the exhibition’s themes, particularly reflecting on how home spaces shape and have shaped my cultural narratives and individual experiences. As a bookworm from an early age—when I learned to read by memorizing all my favorite books that my older sister would read to me at bedtime—who paid part of my college tuition working in the school library, and whose first job out of college was working in the City Library, books have exerted a huge influence, opening doors to both ancient and contemporary worlds that I could not inhabit physically.

I've prominently showcased my first-edition copy of “The 1619 Project” by Ms. Nikole Hannah-Jones (a book that blew my mind by sharing our hidden histories in this country). Also included are other books that have educated me and/or inspired my visions, along with some that feature my designs. The assemblage is filled with other objects significant to my life that serve as inspirations or elements of my furniture designs.

This institution has been supportive of my art for decades, beginning with a commission by then-Chief Design Curator David McFadden for my Tudor Tables III & IV, which have been featured in three exhibits to date. I am delighted to be included in this extraordinary project with my wonderful cohorts, the members of BADG (Black Artists & Designers Guild).

“LIBERATORY LIVING: PROTECTIVE INTERIORS & RADICAL BLACK JOY”

MUSEUM OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA (MOAD), SAN FRANCISCO

Curated by Key Jo Lee
October 2, 2024 - March 2, 2025

Key Jo Lee, Chief of Curatorial Affairs & Public Programs at MoAD, selected my Copper Pennies Media Cabinet (1997) from SFMOMA's permanent collection to display alongside my Constellation Bed. This table, a collaboration with my talented friend Randy Comer, features pre-1982 solid copper pennies pressed into ovals and randomly arranged in a fish-scale pattern by cabinetmaker Pamela Pastrana, whom I instructed not to look at the pennies she was pulling out of the bin so the patina would be random. It was gifted to SFMOMA by Marsha Garces Williams, along with the Constellation Bed.

Next to it, I am once again paired with my fellow BADG member, the brilliant interior designer Sheila Bridges, and her Harlem Toile wallpaper, as we are currently exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum.

CHERYL’S ARTIST PICK OF THE MONTH

LUAM MELAKE

Luam Melake is a young, beautiful old soul who is deeply in tune with both the past and the future. She skillfully mixes materials and plays with sensory and temporal elements with remarkable ease. We first met while exhibiting together at R & Company in the all-female “Born Too Tall: California Women Designers” show, which ran from November 2022 to the end of January 2023 in New York City.

Believe it or not—these seats are neither stone nor hard—they are painted foam that is relatively lightweight and flexible.