By Butch Fredrick Collins
Terri Gerrard. This is a name that conjures up so many images. There are many artists in this town of great talent, and it’s sad to see some of them going. We haven’t seen Terri in three years and most “art-people” didn’t even notice. Sure, in a few dark corners of the art world there were a few tears shed, a subtle rumble in bar whispers. The few who did notice are happy to have her back though. Many of you don’t know who Terri Garrard is, and most of us probably never will. So who is Terri? Simply put, Terri is a Cleveland artist. Not a native, but a Clevelander none the less.
She was driven up to Cleveland by her friend Jordan, from Alabama, where she has lived with her parents on their farm. The nearest house is at least two miles away and the nearest mall – seven. She has lived there for the past three years now. Her friend Jordan tells me that she doesn’t know anybody out there – “not a soul”, as he put it.
“The Triumphant Return of Terri Garrard”, a show that opened at Doubting Thomas Gallery on April 10 of this year, is one of “more than a few” that she’s had there over the past ten odd years…she has shown with countless artists in Cleveland. Many of the pieces sold – people took them right off of the gallery walls on opening night. Many didn’t even have price tags, and I was told before the show that Terri was asking people to help her name her paintings.
Now, I could go into her paintings – try to deconstruct them, examine all the visual elements and technique and formal elements and the latter…but I don’t think this will get us any closer to what Terri is trying to say as an artist. However, I will tell you this – all the elements are there if you look for them. Rumors tell me that Terri is still here, but for how long? And will Cleveland notice when she goes?
I walk out on the back porch into a yard with three mutt dogs, four hens and three cocks dancing around the back yard cooing and pecking at the ground. There was a big fat white one, and another that was tiny and dark black and seemed to follow the fat white one around like a shadow. Terri (with wine stains on the corners of her mouth) talks about how she’d asked D, the owner of the house, if that was a chicken?
“Have you ever seen a chicken that looks like that?! I think the thing is scary,” says Terri.
I am guessing that these chickens are Gertrude and ZaZa. I only know this because at Terri’s opening there were eggs of different sizes, pink, sitting in a bowl labeled “laid with love by Gertrude (Small Eggs) & ZaZA (Big Eggs)”. In spite of the surroundings, and after trying to track down Terri for three days to get this interview, we went right into it.
What does you art mean to you and how does it speak for you?
Well, at this show in particular, I felt a little threatened and forced because I’m stuck in the country [Alabama]. I basically wanted to see my friends. I do love art. No, the reason I paint in the first place – I’m assuming because I don’t even know my own mind…is because I like to.
What is your fascination with animals?
I’m really not fascinated with chickens – my favorite animal is a dog. I used to like monkeys until I found out that they eat their own shit, and they uh…eat each other. But I love dogs and I like cats to some extent because they find their own food.
When did you move to Cleveland? Or when did you first come here?
Okay, well I left my parents. I moved out while I was in high school, when I was in tenth grade. My parents moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee from Savannah, Georgia and I moved out. I saw an ad in the paper and moved in with a woman.
This might be a silly question, but what is Cleveland Art to you?
People in Cleveland paint what they feel. Cleveland isn’t a small New York in my opinion. There’s a lot of heart and soul here and it’s better than New York. That’s what I think! Here, people paint and talk and they love and they feel what they feel.
What do you have to say to young potential Cleveland Artists?
I’d say do what you want because you got nothin’ to loose and this is the city you got.
What are your goals as an artist?
I don’t really have any goals as an artist, and I’m not sure what my goals as a human being are.
Roughly how many exhibitions do you think you’ve had?
You’re asking the wrong person. I don’t know…more than a few.
This is a Cleveland magazine, so do you have anything to add, any closing statements?
Okay, if it’s recording…I love Cleveland. And that’s what I told Jordan, my friend who came here with me. He even said it himself – “There’s more heart and soul in this city than you can pull out of a chicken’s ass!
I think that’s a good place to end it.
No don’t put that in there!
Terri Gerrard
By Butch Fredrick Collins
Terri Gerrard. This is a name that conjures up so many images. There are many artists in this town of great talent, and it’s sad to see some of them going. We haven’t seen Terri in three years and most “art-people” didn’t even notice. Sure, in a few dark corners of the art world there were a few tears shed, a subtle rumble in bar whispers. The few who did notice are happy to have her back though. Many of you don’t know who Terri Garrard is, and most of us probably never will. So who is Terri? Simply put, Terri is a Cleveland artist. Not a native, but a Clevelander none
the less.
She was driven up to Cleveland by her friend Jordan, from Alabama, where she has lived with her parents on their farm. The nearest house is at least two miles away and the nearest mall – seven. She has lived there for the past three years now. Her friend Jordan tells me that she doesn’t know anybody out there – “not a soul”, as he put it.
“The Triumphant Return of Terri Garrard”, a show that opened at Doubting Thomas Gallery on April 10 of this year, is one of “more than a few” that she’s had there over the past ten odd years…she has shown with countless artists in Cleveland. Many of the pieces sold – people took them right off of the gallery walls on opening night. Many didn’t even have price tags, and I was told before the show that Terri was asking people to help her name her paintings.
Now, I could go into her paintings – try to deconstruct them, examine all the visual elements and technique and formal elements and the latter…but I don’t think this will get us any closer to what Terri is trying to say as an artist. However, I will tell you this – all the elements are there if you look for them. Rumors tell me that Terri is still here, but for how long? And will Cleveland notice when she goes?
I walk out on the back porch into a yard with three mutt dogs, four hens and three cocks dancing around the back yard cooing and pecking at the ground. There was a big fat white one, and another that was tiny and dark black and seemed to follow the fat white one around like a shadow. Terri (with wine stains on the corners of her mouth) talks about how she’d asked D, the owner of the house, if that was a chicken?
“Have you ever seen a chicken that looks like that?! I think the thing is scary,” says Terri.
I am guessing that these chickens are Gertrude and ZaZa. I only know this because at Terri’s opening there were eggs of different sizes, pink, sitting in a bowl labeled “laid with love by Gertrude (Small Eggs) & ZaZA (Big Eggs)”. In spite of the surroundings, and after trying to track down Terri for three days to get this interview, we went right into it.
What does you art mean to you and how does it speak for you?
Well, at this show in particular, I felt a little threatened and forced because I’m stuck in the country [Alabama]. I basically wanted to see my friends. I do love art. No, the reason I paint in the first place – I’m assuming because I don’t even know my own mind…is because I like to.
What is your fascination with animals?
I’m really not fascinated with chickens – my favorite animal is a dog. I used to like monkeys until I found out that they eat their own shit, and they uh…eat each other. But I love dogs and I like cats to some extent because they find their own food.
When did you move to Cleveland? Or when did you first come here?
Okay, well I left my parents. I moved out while I was in high school, when I was in tenth grade. My parents moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee from Savannah, Georgia and I moved out. I saw an ad in the paper and moved in with a woman.
This might be a silly question, but what is Cleveland Art to you?
People in Cleveland paint what they feel. Cleveland isn’t a small New York in my opinion. There’s a lot of heart and soul here and it’s better than New York. That’s what I think! Here, people paint and talk and they love and they feel what they feel.
What do you have to say to young potential Cleveland Artists?
I’d say do what you want because you got nothin’ to loose and this is the city you got.
What are your goals as an artist?
I don’t really have any goals as an artist, and I’m not sure what my goals as a human being are.
Roughly how many exhibitions do you think you’ve had?
You’re asking the wrong person. I don’t know…more than a few.
This is a Cleveland magazine, so do you have anything to add, any closing statements?
Okay, if it’s recording…I love Cleveland. And that’s what I told Jordan, my friend who came here with me. He even said it himself – “There’s more heart and soul in this city than you can pull out of a chicken’s ass!
I think that’s a good place to end it.
No don’t put that in there!
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