The Bacchus gallery features the needlepoint work of Cherrill Melcon. Cherrill is a resident of Chico, CA. Her interpretations in the needlepoint medium provide an enchanting and challenging display of artistic accomplishment. The needlepoint is completed on 16 mesh (256 stitches per square inch) or 20 mesh (400 stitches per square inch). Her discussion of her work follows:

My mother-in-law loved to needlepoint original canvases. She was my initial inspiration, and continues to contribute to and influence my work through the hundreds of skeins of yarn she left to me. I started to work in needlepoint because of its simplicity, taking classes and learning different stitches; the instructor emphasized employing a variety of canvas, yarn, floss, or silk combinations to achieve the desired look. She urged us to be creative.

I initially completed kit projects that were printed on canvas and had supplied yarn. Gradually, I began to experiment, altering the patterns and colors to my liking. Eventually, I began designing my own canvases, drawing inspiration from paintings or posters and adapting them to the needlepoint medium. I continue to push the traditions of needlepoint, working with variations in texture obtained by varying stitch density and the subtle coloring and pattern that is possible only in this craft. On my own, I choose to do improvised abstract geometric pieces, allowing the piece to create itself as I work it over time.

Though needlepoint is not considered by some to be a true artform, it is my art, and I, like artists of other mediums, visualize and articulate my feelings about the world through my chosen form of expression.

Cherrill Melcon, April 2008