Cheryl Roe is a very experienced ceramic artist. Her father was attached to the US Embassy, so her exposure to ceramic techniques happened around the world and began at a very early age. When Cheryl was 4, her Japanese nanny would take her to her brother's clay studio for visits, and there she was allowed to work with the clay. By the age of 10, she was a very young apprentice to Norma Lachelle, who was the Advisor in the Arts to the royal family of Iran (the then Shah, before he was ousted by the Ayatollah.) Cheryl studied with Ms. Lachelle for about 8 years and decided then to be a potter. She says that she relives her childhood in her pots.

Ms. Roe has degrees from Corcoran School of Art and Georgetown University and was awarded a Master's Degree in Fine Arts from Radford College. She has lived in Houston since 1986. She shares her home and studio with her 10 cats and 4 dogs.

Cheryl is ½ Native American - Caddo Indian from the Red River area. She now attributes her use of leaves in her work to what the Native Americans call "Blood Memory," a very similar concept to Carl Jung's collective unconscious. Caddo Indian pottery that has been unearthed in digs is rich with leaf imagery.

The artist creates her own rich, intensely colored glazes and is challenged by creating very thin walled vessels.

 

Pieces shown at left: Happy Lady, glazed earthenware, above, hearts from her Hearts series, glazed earthenware, center, and a gourd from her Gourds series, glazed earthenware, below.