Cheri Bricker-Burnett has been doing presentations at several garden clubs in the area and her presentations have been well-received. She has been recommended to be on the State Speaker list for garden clubs in Washington State.
Designing and building these garden art cages feeds Cheri’s creative spirit. “I feel passionate about what I do. I love doing my work and have no interest in retiring (even though she is past “traditional” retirement age).”
She notes that designing and building these artistic garden cages does take a lot of patience. The wire cages are a form of functional art; each piece is designed for a garden and is intended as a conversation piece for the owner of the art.
Like so many who live on Whidbey, Cheri Bricker-Burnett has a totally different occupation now from what she had before she settled on the island. Prior to establishing Wire Art by C & C, Cheri had been an operations manager for a major tech company.
Before moving to Whidbey, Cheri had made some trips to the island on weekends. On one of these trips she saw a piece of property off North Bluff Road, 2-1/2 miles from the Greenbank Farm that really appealed to her. She looked into her options for buying the property and was able to get a construction loan from a local bank that allowed her to build a small home. She moved to Whidbey full time in 2001, but still commuted to work in Redmond and Bothell.
Even though she had earned her living for several years as a tech person, she felt a strong desire to do something artistic. At first, she got a job on Whidbey working at the Greenbank Farm wine shop, which though not artistic led her to a major life change. She met Ron Burnett at Greenbank Farm, and discovered a person who wanted to be her partner and help her in whatever way he could.
She and Ron were friends for a couple of years and then began dating, and Cheri notes, “We really liked each other.” Their friendship evolved into a deep love for one another, and they married in 2006. The marriage was the third time for each of them, and Cheri says, “We share a lot of humor together and laugh a lot.”
Ron provided the gateway to Cheri’s current occupation. He had always loved gardening and landscaping, and he did work for Carl Ulmschneider who designed garden cages as a hobby and to protect plants from overabundance of deer. When Cheri saw the work done by Carl, she felt drawn to learning how to do it. He helped her get started, and soon she was able to turn her wire cages into a business. Carl supports Cheri and helps her whenever he can. “He was my inspiration and he designed several hand-made tools for me that protect my hands and wrists.”
Cheri has most of her pieces displayed on her website, wireartbycc.weebly.com . She also sells them at the Bayview Market on Saturdays, and they are available at Walt’s Organic Soil and Garden in Seattle, Meerkerk Gardens in Greenbank, and in Langley at Marcel’s at 214 – 1st Street. She can create a garden cage to order. To contact Cheri send her an email at wireartbyCC@aol.com or give her a call at 425-736-7494.
