2025

GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL EXHIBITION

CHERIE PETERS

CHERIE PETERS

(Osage Beach, Missouri)

Tequmah

encaustic on repurposed doll, fabric, tar, wood, 12 x 8 x 5 inches

$495 + $34.65 tax + $55 shipping fee  =

$584.65 Total Price

Artist Statement:

Tequmah is a figurative sculpture created from a discarded plastic doll, transformed through layers of texture and wax-based media into a symbol of endurance and presence. Her name means “she who rises,” and she stands in quiet strength—her right foot stepping forward beneath a long, earth-blended dress, her head tilted upward, eyes closed, right arm lifted slightly, left arm extending behind in balance. Draped across her shoulders is a sheer cheesecloth shawl, stiffened with encaustic and brushed with gold.

All visible surfaces of Tequmah—face, arms, and dress—were first coated in spackling compound to create raw texture, then sealed with encaustic medium. Black oil paint was rubbed into these waxed areas, settling into crevices to emphasize their form and age. The shawl was left untouched by the oil, preserving its luminous, delicate tone. She stands on a layered wood substrate covered in cheesecloth, also sealed with encaustic. Tar was rubbed into the base to evoke a scorched landscape, with gold pigment added lightly across all surfaces to suggest resilience glinting through ruin.

Originally created for an exhibition on genocide, Tequmah now speaks powerfully to environmental devastation within the Global Warming is REAL theme. She is a silent witness, grounded and unyielding—a feminine figure formed by fire, yet holding space for light. The wax preserves her fragility, but gives her weight. Tequmah reminds us that standing still in the face of crisis can itself be an act of defiance—and that remembering is a form of survival.

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