Artist Bio

Commissioned fine realistic portraits and murals done in a painterly impressionistic style

on location by a nationally acclaimed artist.

AN INTRODUCTION

For nearly forty years Cheryl Mann Hardin has dedicated her professional life to refining her definition of the portrait. Like all gifted artists Mrs. Hardin's style has undergone the invariable changes, some of a deliberate nature and others more subconscious. Whether the portrait is rendered in stark realism or softened impressionism Mrs. Hardin never fails to capture the essence of her subject. Working from life sittings, her interpretation of the subject is more than a visual record. It will also seize the persona of the subject and infuse that tangible quality into the painting, gaining a depth and life like quality that often eludes even the most skilled artist. Few portrait artists will perform to standard on every commission they receive. Cheryl Mann Hardin has demonstrated this ability and has repeatedly received national recognition for her portraits from the National Portrait Institute.

Mrs. Hardin began her career as an artist after graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1966. She continued her artistic training, specializing in portrait painting at the Bendell School of Art in Bradenton, Florida and has studied with other artists throughout her career, most recently with Cedric and Joanette Eglie in Edgewater, Maryland. In addition to her work as a portrait artist Mrs. Hardin has worked as a commercial artist, a museum preparator, and an elementary and high school art teacher and a muralist. She has illustrated two books and has participated in the Alabama Artist-In-Residence program.

Recent works by Mrs. Hardin include a variety of artistic accomplishments ranging from a limited edition portrait poster of NASCAR racing icon Bobby Allison, large palette-knife paintings of subjects as varied as floral gardens, Italian landscapes, Frank Sanatra and the "Big Band" Era, to a collection of fine wildlife portraits. Currently the Wiregrass Museum of Art is exhibiting twenty-two oil paintings by Cheryl Mann Hardin. This exhibition, “The Color of Light” is a diversified cross-section of her work and will run through July 10, 2005.

While continuing to accept portrait commissions, Mrs. Hardin has also accepted several mural commissions. Her murals adorn walls from Michigan to Florida with themes as diverse as the rest of her work: historic sites and events, landscapes, anti-bellium homes, wildlife scenes and a nostalgic composition based on bus stations in the 1940's. A 16 ft. x 41 ft. outdoor mural painted in 1998 for the city of Dothan, Alabama, Wiregrass Festival of Murals depicts "The Dothan Riot of 1889”. Painted from the artist’s imagination, it was composed entirely from written accounts of the event. Mrs. Hardin completed a second mural for the Wiregrass Festival of Murals in May of 2003. This mural, “Women of the Wire Grass”, which is 25 feet high and 60 feet long is Mrs. Hardin’s largest one to date. The mural is a tribute to women of the Dothan area and focuses on their personalities and attributes rather than their individual achievements. Her most recent outdoor murals include: 2004 – “Stalking Tiger, 40’ x 16’ in Auburn, Alabama; and 2005 - “Summer in the Swamp” 40’ x 16’ in Colquitt, Georgia. Cheryl Hardin’s work on this mural was filmed by Georgia Public Broadcasting and a story on the mural project in Colquitt will air in the summer of 2005 on GPTV “State of the Arts” quarterly program.

Though Mrs. Hardin finds these new artistic challenges exciting and stimulating her true passion is still the portrait. She enjoys interacting with her subjects during the portrait sittings and is equally at ease with adults or children. Her goal is to create a tangible link between the subject of the painting and the viewer of the art, instead of merely recreating a physical likeness of the subject. Mrs. Hardin's clients are universally delighted with her work and consider her paintings among their most valued and cherished possessions. Of herself she writes, "To observe and record the sensitive characteristics of individual personalities is an intriguing and compelling force in my life."

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