TORI CHERRY

Tori Cherry is an artist based in Charlottesville, VA. She is a former Aunspaugh Fellow (2021-22) at the University of Virginia (CLAS’21) where she double majored in Cognitive Science and Studio Art. Her paintings and drawings inspired by her loved ones, her surroundings and herself serve as sites for personal documentation, reflection, and connection. Through figurative and still life work, she highlights the paradoxical uniqueness and universality of quotidian experience. When she is not painting, she works as Welcome Gallery Manager for New City Arts Initiative’s Welcome Gallery space in downtown Charlottesville.

"My practice serves as a space to reflect, document, and explore empathy and connection. I draw inspiration from mundane scenes, family, friends, and myself while pushing elements of shape and line and allowing intuition to guide my color choices. By referencing my own lived experience and that of friends and family, I aim to highlight both the specificity and universality of everyday experience. By leaving space for viewers to inject their own details, I’m hoping that viewers are able to place themselves within the work or at least identify with the feeling. I am interested in this action as a practice of empathy–encouraging viewers to appreciate differences and also identify where similarities might exist."