Schroeder's profile
Originally from Washington, DC, Schroeder Cherry is an award- winning Maryland-based, multimedia assemblage artist and puppeteer whose art for decades has captured everyday scenes of African diaspora life. He has performed puppetry in museums, cultural centers, libraries and schools across the United States, and his art is in numerous private and public collections. As a museum professional, he has worked in seven U.S. museums, including the Studio Museum in Harlem; The J. Paul Getty Museum; The Art Institute of Chicago; and The Baltimore Museum of Art. He was a 2019 Janet and Walter Sondheim finalist. He is the recipient of a 2020 Maryland Arts Society of Baltimore Travel Grant for research travel to Brazil; a 2021 Maryland State Art Council Independent Artist Award; and a 2023 Virginia Center for Creative Arts Fellowship.
In 2021, he was appointed Curator of the James E Lewis Museum of Art at Baltimore’s Morgan State University.
My art works are open-ended narratives inspired by travel, music, literature, folklore, and everyday events. Mixed media assemblage paintings on wood often incorporate discarded objects. Keys, and locks represent tools of access. Watermelon images refute negative stereotypes by representing positive aspects of the African diaspora. Glass shards, metal, buttons, playing cards - all become part of the materials telling a story.
The works are open-ended because there is no one story; viewers bring their own experiences to each piece. I often make art in series. This allows me to explore an idea in depth and play with variations of a theme.
