Meet Cidney Cher

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cidney Cher. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cidney below.

Cidney, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

Other than my marbling practice, it is vital to cultivate spaces in my life for expression – of my desire for adventure, healing and connecting. Two of those main outlets in this time of my life are learning how to fly and playing guitar.

In my dining room, I keep a chair perched in front of my record speakers and play guitar almost every night. I’ve played on and off since I was 9 and find so much healing in the tuning of Open E. Joni Mitchell, Derek Trucks and John Lee Hooker are all hugely influential in my playing style.

I am steadily logging hours towards getting my pilots license. Learning how to fly helicopters has changed my perspective of pace and patience. I have completely fallen in love with flying and the journey – the mechanics of the actual bird, observing how to be safe, chart adventures and communicate in the sky. The relationship of it – the dedication, devotion, patience, all of the things – the experience of feeling it unfold. The magic there is just like romantic love.

So much creativity also comes alive in just spending time with other artists – being together outside of our studios and supporting each other in finding our ways. I’ve lived in Richmond, Virginia for seven years and the artist community continues to blow me away.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

As a marbler, my studio practice continues to grow from my studies in book arts and papermaking. When I first learned the craft, I took my time getting to know the strokes of each historic pattern, the marbling history of specific countries, and how to really mix ink and develop my relationship with color.

The history of marbling means so much to me because I feel like this extension of a craft rooted in establishing authenticity. Such historic uses are embodied through some of the first US paper currency having a narrow strip of marbling on one side to show uniqueness, and also creating varied editions of artist books.

As an Iranian-American artist, much of my current focus is storytelling through new marbling techniques focused on the spiritual history of Persian marbling. Many of the silk scarves and compositions I’m making are inspired by Persian epics and illustrated poetry.

I really found my voice in my studio when I began to marble onto silk, creating functional pieces to become a part of someone’s everyday routine. Each person who has collected my work has completely made it their own and that is such a joy to see – a scarf that gets tied in the morning, carpenter pants that get dirty in the studio or a silk slip to wear underneath a beautiful dress. That in itself is this sort of unspoken collaboration that I’m in love with.

I think about all of these famous women pilots in history and how they just charted the skies for days on end, most wearing their favorite scarf as a sort of talisman. So it is especially rad when people aren’t afraid to get them dirty and invent new ways to style pieces that come out of my studio.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Appreciation. Connection. Curiosity.

Advice: Regardless of where someone is in their journey, there is consistent resonance and beauty that comes from connecting with people; fostering community beyond networking, going to exhibition openings, doing studio visits, gathering with friends.

I’ve learned so much about myself by going straight to an opportunity or person that makes you feel curious, even if it feels unnerving or like a risk – and all of the connection built in those new moments sort of trails back into the studio/the work of an artist in ways that don’t always need to be unpacked or put to words.

Connection with self, as well – simple things like asking yourself how you feel, gauging your own creative desires, and following your own vision to build the path that expands our inner self.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

A close friend gifted her copy of The Art of Loving by Rumi a while back. This particular collection of Rumi passages is beautifully categorized by types of love, with the Farsi translations beside each line.

There is one poem that I don’t know line for line but he describes a piece of bamboo not truly being able to become a flute and bear a melody until it is empty enough to let air fill it.

To slow the mind/leave the body enough to get to the space where the work or moment that is meant to happen can take shape – and to experience the liberation in not knowing what melody might unfold.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cidneycher.com
• Instagram: @cidcherstudio
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cidney-cher-30397a22b/

Image Credits

Tintype portrait courtesy of Em White
Photo 2: Courtesy of Meesh Kislyakov
Photo 5, 6: Courtesy of Em White