At 18, Cheryl moved to Arizona to go to a tech school where she studied architectural drafting. 

Her next stop would be San Francisco, where she took the next most logical step: she tended bar for the next 12 years.

But she did listen to the call of her creativity and took art and art history classes at City College. She loved these so much that she committed to going to school for art and transferred to UC Davis as a Junior.

In the UC Davis Art Department, she found her goldmine of inspiration and mentors. She studied with Wayne Thiebaud, Mike Henderson (Oakland), Squeak Carnwrath (Bay Area) and David Hollowell (Woodland), all of whom have impressive pedigrees and their artwork graces the halls of  the Crocker Art Museum.

David Hollowell was her favorite mentor. Hollowell, a painter with a penchant for pointillism, was a no-nonsense instructor. His classes required you to think deeply. He believed artists shouldn’t buy every color of paint in the store. He wanted artists to learn how to mix their paints to achieve the color they were looking for. His hallmark lessons had his students work with minimal palettes.

This focus on color work continues to influence Cheryl’s work and outlook on life to this day.

While Cheryl was studying at UC Davis, she worked at Nugget Market, first as a Deli Clerk, then Kitchen Manager for 5 years, before becoming Director of Training & Education for 6 years.

She learned a lot there that she would later use in her art and community work. Cheryl’s philosophy became to accumulate knowledge from every type of job. Cheryl says all jobs go into making you who you are, that all the colors in a painting would not be the same without all the various experiences you gain from your work and private life.

Needing to find an occupation that did not take such a physical toll, Cheryl left Nugget Market in 2009 and went to work for Heald College.

Eventually Heald College closed, but the many friends Cheryl had made in the community knew that she was an artist and told her about the art exhibitions happening at Rancho Cordova City Hall.

Cheryl embraced her artistic side again and started showing at these exhibitions.

The Cordova Community Council (CCC) reached out to her in 2017, because the City of Rancho Cordova wanted to expand their visual arts and they were in charge of running the art program at city hall.

After renovating the inside of historic Mills Station in Rancho Cordova, the CCC tasked Cheryl with transforming the former grocery store, bar, Chinese restaurant and ballroom into an art gallery. 

During the initial planning for the opening of the gallery, the CCC and the City of Rancho Cordova were uncertain about the possibilities for this space. They were thinking maybe 5 or 6 shows a year at this new gallery.

The newly transformed building became the Mills Station Arts & Culture Center (MACC) or The MACC, as the community lovingly calls it.

Cheryl’s vision for this art space was much bigger than merely 5 or 6 art shows a year.

The exhibitions that now take place at The MACC often show national and international artists, as well as local artist showcases. The very first exhibition she mounted there exhibited the artwork of British artist, David Hockney.   

The shows often cover social justice issues and historical and cultural interests. You will also find traveling exhibitions there, like the Smithsonian exhibition titled, “Righting A Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War ll”.

But Cheryl was determined that The MACC would bring more to the community than solely exhibitions. The MACC’s schedule now includes lectures, artist talks, art workshops and poetry readings. October always brings Author’s Day there, featuring local authors and authors with ties to Rancho Cordova.

The MACC also hosts musical events, featuring bespoke local and regional musicians.

The 2^nd floor of The MACC became a start-up home for the nonprofit Rise Up Theatre. Currently, the 2^nd floor houses solo shows and has served as the studio for The MACC’s YouTube series, “Inside The Artist’s Studio”.

Cheryl also has a hand in many other cultural events in the Rancho Cordova area. She was invited to guest host the Rancho Cordova podcast for their monthly cultural segment, featuring artists, writers and musicians.

In the midst of all her art community work, Cheryl’s own artistic career started up again right before the onset of the Pandemic.

She says that with her artistic process, nothing is planned out ahead of time. Her work starts out as completely abstract doodles. She works through her unconscious, putting down color, making marks and seeing things in the abstraction.

Texture, shape and color grab her attention and influence her artwork. Her travels to Iceland, Costa Rica, Fiji, Mexico, Italy and Norway have provided fodder for her subconscious. Seeing these places firsthand and taking photos, Cheryl finds that the subconscious stores these impressions and they come out in her artwork. Cheryl says that if you allow yourself to let go and be in the moment, you can let the impression tell you what it wants to be.

Cheryl’s studies at UCDavis have developed an attraction in her to architectural shapes. Her artwork allows her to share with the viewer so many more layers of meaning than can be seen with the naked eye.

One of Cheryl’s creative passions is color. Her favorite color is Prussian Blue. She uses it as a “black” in her artwork. She says Prussian Blue is great for mixing with other colors to create beautiful hues and unique colors.

Cheryl recently had a solo exhibition at the Arthouse on R in Sacramento and she participates regularly in the Sac Open Studios tour, which the MACC serves as a gallery for, showcasing a number of local artists. Cheryl has shown in the televised KVIE Art Auction and she has a show with artist John Angell, “Outside In”, at Gallery 625 in Woodland, California, October 4^th through December 2^nd, 2024.

Cheryl Gleason has transformed her life’s experiences through her artwork and transformed the art community of the Sacramento Valley into a haven for artists and a stage for social evolution.