Faces of Artspace: Cheryl Frey Richards
Meet painter, illustrator and designer Cheryl Frey Richards, our first subject in a series profiling the talented residents of Artspace.
Photos
Welcome to our new series profiling the creative artists who call Artspace home. Artspace, located on Terry Street, held its grand opening last summer with the goal of attracting artists to Patchogue Village. We will use this series to introduce you to some of the talented faces behind its doors.
Cheryl Frey Richards
Age: 34
Background: Moved to the Patchogue area eight years ago after living in a multitude of places including Kentucky, Indiana, Boston and her hometown of Elyria, Ohio. Now lives in Artspace with her husband and children.
Talent: Richards specializes in modern/pop landscapes and figures in acrylic, and has been doing it for 13 years. She has several art pieces on display in the halls of Artspace, including an interactive comic strip piece in which anyone can take a marker and fill in the word bubbles to add life to the scenes. Aside from painting, Richards works as a teacher on contract, teaching interactive art history classes at libraries and schools throughout New York.
Q & A
Patch: What drew you to Artspace?
Frey Richards: My family and I were living in Patchogue and we wanted to be able to stay on Long Island. Artspace afforded us the opportunity to remain on Long Island and provide much needed studio space.
Patch: What benefits have you found by living in an artist community?
Frey Richards: I have learned that you do not have to live in a large city to be apart of a fantastic arts community. I feel inspired to create more and experiment with new art forms. It is teaching me to push my art to higher levels.
Patch: What is your favorite aspect of living in the Patchogue area?
Frey Richards: The downtown area has really grown since I moved to Patchogue. I really appreciate how everything you need is in walking distance of my place. I love to support local businesses and I frequent our fantastic library!
Want to learn more about Cheryl Frey Richards and her work? Visit her website here or check out her Facebook page here.
Live at Artspace and want to be featured on Patchogue Patch? Email michael@patch.com.
David Kennedy
9:10 am on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Welcome to the Village of Patchogue Cheryl...and thank you Michael for starting this series...I for one believe Art Space is a great addition to our Village and hope these profiles will dispel some of the myths about this project.
natalie baker
6:21 am on Wednesday, December 14, 2011
What myths about the project? Artspace is great but it’s a hideous building and Terry Street is a dangerous mess. And I don’t think they should’ve accepted anyone who isn’t a true artist. It should be for artists only.
Jonathan
10:44 am on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
I agree - what a great idea for a series!
Info
8:00 pm on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Cheryl is an amazing artist. She has painted a wonderful wall mural at the Lighthouse Missions new facility in Bellport. We are so proud of her painting & it has completely transformed our facility into an exciting - colorful - fun room for all of our children's programs & events. Come on down at 1543 Montauk hwy in Bellport to see it for yourself :-) God bless you!
Elizabeth K
7:52 am on Tuesday, December 13, 2011
What a nice thing to do for The lighthouse Missions. Glad to see they found a new home in Belport, I had wondered.... Welcome to the Villiage.
natalie baker
8:39 pm on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Good article but one of the ugliest buildings I’ve ever seen.
David Kennedy
8:22 am on Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Ms. Baker, you just put forward myth Number 1 in your most recent post....the project IS for artists only, always has been...also, I don't think the building is ugly at all, but that's just my opinion.
My question to you...what is the "dangerous mess" on Terry Street? Have never encountered a problem myself, and I use that street often both as pedistrian and driver.
ArtSpace and Patchogue's growing Arts community is an incredible asset. On that we can both agree.
greatsouthbay
7:21 am on Tuesday, December 13, 2011
This is a fantastic series and I look forward to seeing more from the residents of Artspace.
Michael Sorrentino
12:10 am on Thursday, December 15, 2011
David: Artspace gives preference for artists, but also accepts non-artists as applicants.
David Kennedy
8:17 am on Thursday, December 15, 2011
Thanks for the correction Mike...the perception to many is that there are very few artists at ArtSpace, is mostly section 8 and is not at full capacity...these are the myths I have refered to..and though they may accept non artist applications it is my understanding ArtSpace is 100% artist presently...am I wrong about this?
Michael Sorrentino
10:14 am on Thursday, December 15, 2011
It's 98% artists as far as I am aware at the moment. It had reached full capacity with a waitlist a few months ago from what I have heard around from Artspace officials and people mentioning to me they signed up for that list.
David Kennedy
10:23 am on Thursday, December 15, 2011
Thanks again for the information....98% is "not to shabby" as Adam Sandler would say (keeping up with a theme started on another thread.)
Fred Diekmann
2:12 pm on Thursday, December 15, 2011
We're all entiteled to our opinions but does that mean that they have to be shared publicly? What is the point of opining that you think a building, many call their home, is ugly? If I thought my neighbors house was ugly I wouldn't feel the need to share my thought with them.
Anyway, bravo to all of those who helped make Artspace in Patchogue a reality. I think it's an exciting addition to the village. Oh wait, I just shared my opinion...
natalie baker
9:49 pm on Thursday, December 15, 2011
There are non artists currently living in artspace. I know one of them. And
there have been complaints of people driving the wrong way on terry street. They
need to address that and soon.
natalie baker
10:04 pm on Thursday, December 15, 2011
There are section 8 residents currently living in Artspace. Why are you so
defensive of Artspace anyway?
Alyssa Schwarz
12:01 pm on Thursday, January 19, 2012
I'm a resident, and the outside may not be the "prettiest" but the apartments sure are! Lots of talent lives in this city-chic building and my boyfriend and I love it here :) Thanks for this series Michael!