"I'm passionate about designing beautiful things that welcome joy and artistry into our busy lives–reminders to slow down and cherish every moment and the loved ones around us."

About the Artist

Cherish Flieder is well-known for her enthusiasm in the business of licensing art, as well as being the creator of the trademarked art lifestyle brand, Something to Cherish®, which features her whimsically elegant and joyfully modern watercolors. She keeps one eye on the trends while creating original work that appeals to her multi-generational and predominantly female fans.

Cherish is an internationally featured and award-winning artist, based in Golden, Colorado.

Her quality artistic designs have helped to sell millions of dollars of products all over the world. Her work has been seen at retail in galleries, boutique craft, gift, stationery, and garden shops as well as high-end resorts, country clubs, upscale department stores such as Macy's and Nordstrom, J.C. Penney, Home Goods, Jo-Ann Fabric Stores, Barnes & Noble end-cap displays and many more outlets. She has designed thousands of SKUs in men's and women's fashion apparel and accessories, books (including children's books), magazines, craft, and stationery products, greeting cards, art prints, technology cases, gift concepts, and more. While pursuing her love of designing products and surface patterns, she was given the opportunity to become highly experienced in designing and illustrating custom packaging, POP marketing, highly complex catalogs, billboards, and retail fixtures.

In addition to her professional work, Cherish has been an adjunct illustration instructor at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design since 2008, preparing hundreds of graduating students for their professional careers in the arts. She feels that it is a privilege to give back to her community and to help educate up-and-coming art professionals. To further this effort, she has nurtured a global community of well over 40K creatives involved in or interested in licensing artwork. The ArtofLicensing.com network that she founded online in 2009 spans across LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Clubhouse. In March 2015, she officially launched ArtLicensingShow.com®, a private online community where art licensors can post custom and private portfolios for potential licensing partners to review online, any day of the year, from the comfort of any device.

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Interesting facts/credentials:

Other interesting facts/credentials:

In 4 years, earned triple major BFA degrees in Illustration, Design, and Fine Art with a minor in Leadership and emphases in French and Biblical Studies. Graduated at the top of her classes from Rocky Mountian College of Art & Design and Colorado Christian University and was awarded a multitude of scholarships along the way.
Developed higher-education art courses and taught hundreds of students in illustration, design, technology, business, and marketing as an adjunct Illustration instructor for 15 years at Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design.
Guest speaker to numerous professional art groups and universities, including the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, Craft & Hobby Association, The Artist Entrepreneur Network, Surface Pattern Design Guild, Colorado Independent Publisher's Association, Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, Colorado Christian University and Colorado Alliance of Illustrators to name a few.
Featured 3-D chalk artist with her artist husband, Benjamin Hummel, at many art festivals, colleges, and universities such as Carnegie Mellon University and Denison University - PeopleOfTheChalk.com.
A natural-born creative entrepreneur, she has been drawing designs and learning the art of creating products since she was old enough to hold a pencil.
Has a big heart for children and families. Her parents cared for and helped raise 10 special-needs and multiethnic children in addition to their 4 biological children of which Cherish is the eldest. As you can imagine, many memorable adventures ensued.
A Colorado "Pioneer" native, she feels blessed to live in the beautiful foothills of Golden, Colorado where she hikes, gardens, and cares for her husband along with their tenacious rescue kitty, Lady Guinevere.

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Make Creative Things ~ Guide Creative People ~ Nourish Artistic Beauty

My passion is art. I believe that beautiful things happen when form and function embody concept, color and texture. My greatest joy comes from helping people realize their visions. I am addicted to learning and problem-solving. I aim for beauty and excellence in everything I do. — Cherish

Passion for Learning and Teaching

In four years time, Cherish Flieder earned two jam-packed BFA degrees. Cherish graduated Summa Cum Laude in Illustration, Painting & Drawing, and Design at Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design and Colorado Christian University where she also earned degrees in Leadership, French and Biblical studies. Since 2008, Cherish has been teaching adjunct at Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design. Her courses cover advanced digital painting techniques in color and design theory, advanced digital image creation and digital painting. She also teaches the latest web design and internet marketing skills in her very popular course titled “Illustration Marketing." Cherish also occasionally teaches workshops on art creation, business of art and marketing art.

Growing-up as an Artist

Cherish is the firstborn to parents who dedicated their lives to raising and adopting special-needs foster children. Her parents helped raise about 14 kids total, with only 4 of them being biological. Her childhood was always full of excitement with at least six kids around at any given time to play with and love. Cherish began sketching, painting, drawing, and creating innovative products as a small child. She developed her first art brand, gallery, store, and newspaper in her home when she was only five years old, and called it "Bluebird's Hide Out." Those years were the beginning of her love for developing art products for the marketplace. She feels very blessed to do this today as a "grown-up" and she teaches aspiring artists she meets that they too should never give up on their dreams.
Cherish Flieder - Art Licensing Trade Show Booth for Something to Cherish watercolor and embroidery art

Professional Organizations

She is internationally recognized for her leadership in establishing the largest international online group for art licensing professionals on LinkedIn at ArtOfLicensing.com. Cherish was a long-time member and former Vice President for the Colorado Alliance of Illustrators, a professional member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), Colorado Watercolor Society (CWS), Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA), and professional designer member of the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA).

"Life is short and the moments we live should be cherished." — Cherish

Fashion leads to licensing

Cherish comes to run her own art, design, and licensing studio after many years in the fashion industry where she worked directly with golf fashion powerhouse and PG USA CEO, Nancy Haley. During that time Cherish created custom designs for Tehama (Clint Eastwood’s private golf club label) IZOD G (a licensee of Phillip Van Heusen Corporation) and the Arnold Palmer brand, generating several thousand designs that were used as colorful print patterns, embroideries, catalog illustrations, creative die-cut packaging and promotions as well as many different visors, jackets, golf apparel, handbags and belts. She oversaw the design, illustration, and production of numerous color-precise, catalog projects. She also helped develop and maintain several successful multi-million dollar marketing programs including a specialized program for IZOD G’s ZONE:FX, and spearheaded graphics work for various special partnership projects with companies including Disney Golf Resorts, The Rose Bowl, and The Orange Bowl. Cherish designed an e-marketing campaign that helped to virtually distribute an IZOD spot shown during Superbowl XL to over 1.5 million viewers. Cherish also carried out visual marketing efforts for IZOD G ROCKS concert series bands including Black Crowes, Alice Cooper, and Huey Lewis.

Another fun fact; Cherish's first professional lettering commission was for Carlos Santana.

Publishing

Cherish won a silver Evvy award for the children’s book What Would You Like To Do Today?,written by Larry Grizzell and co-illustrated with her artist husband, Benjamin Hummel. They also completed illustrations children's poems called Prayer Posies written by Barbee Lux. She has also designed covers, layouts and marketing packages for many other titles. She has helped get many books to market–successfully managing them from initial concept to bookstore shelf.

Cherish Flieder is a licensed illustrator and designer whose work explores a variety of visual themes with a touch of optimistic realism and playful whimsy. Her work has been featured in international art licensing magazines Total Art Licensing and Art Buyer and on many prominent art and design blogs.