Dr. Mercedes Castillo Terrell, a clinical psychologist, finds fluid art “immensely therapeutic.”  Muse Gallery is exhibiting a collection of her paintings, “Embracing the Flow,” through June 30.

Chea describes fluid art as an interaction between artist and medium. The artist uses a pouring technique to apply paint to canvas. But then the colors interact during curing, a process independent of the artist. “Pouring medium has its own moods and mind that you must interact with during and after the creation process, so embrace the flow,” she explains in her statement accompanying the exhibition. This technique, combined with her bold experimentation with color, produces richly imaginative canvases showing landscapes layered with color and feeling. Chea is inspired by nature and earthy tones fill several pieces while bright floral hues dominate others.

Chea explained a few different techniques she uses after pouring paint on a canvas. One technique involves tilting the canvas. You can see how the paint flows across the canvas in Lava Flow. She demonstrates this technique in a video on her website.

Another technique involves blowing the paint with a hair dryer. Blowing produces shapes that fan out from the center like flowers. For these paintings, she highlighted the edges of the design and added mandalas in the center which drew in this viewer and connected to her soul. Golden Radiance is one in that series.

Another technique involves gliding a spatula over the painted canvas with a paint conditioner, producing a lacy effect which you can see in Deep Earth.

Chea started painting alongside her children when they were young. After they left home, she returned to art at different times in her life including during the pandemic. She has lived in Carrboro for 19 years and remembers visiting Carrboro a few years before she came here to live. “I was inspired…[there] was art all over the town.” She found art in shops, galleries, restaurants, and hair salons. And she found everyone friendly and easy-going. It felt like “a cohesive community.”

My photos cannot do justice to her work. Check out the show at Muse Gallery. To learn more about Chea’s techniques, including ribbon pouring to guide the flow (as in Terracotta Pulse), visit her there during the 2^nd Friday art walk or contact her through her website. There, you can also learn about her “Women with Fruity Breasts” series, humorous therapeutic creations from her breast cancer experience. Thank you, Chea, for sharing your work with us and for talking with me about it!