Tucson Artist Launches Startup Selling Colorful Mexican Oilcloth Aprons for Cooks and Artists

Products created by artist Sherrie Posternak at Cereza Oilcloth Studio blend beauty with function

TUCSON, Ariz. (September 9, 2015) – Tucson Artist Sherrie Posternak has launched a new business featuring colorful aprons for women and men made of Mexican oilcloth. Her company, Cereza Oilcloth Studio, began selling items this month at the company’s website, www.cerezastudio.com.

“All of my designs are created with Mexican oilcloth vinyl, which is easy to clean with a rag and warm soapy water,” said Posternak. “My first two items are aprons for artists and cooks lined with a polyester sports mesh that breathes, as well as little lined bags in the shape of a folded taco.”

She said the products are a longtime dream of hers to mix beauty with  ergonomics.  “What I’ve tried to do in these products is combine  artistic form with practical function,” she added.  

The aprons are practical not only because they are easy to clean but because they cover more of the torso area and are longer than what is currently available on the market, Posternak said. 

Also, the neck cord is adjustable and the waist cords are long enough to easily wrap around the body and tie in front.

In addition their function, the beauty of the multicolored patterns of the Mexican oilcloth she purchases in Mexico enables the appearance of the aprons to stand out.

“My signature style is bright and colorful, embellished with bling such as glitter, beads, trinkets and an embroidered cherry patch inside a clear vinyl pocket,” Posternak said. “There are two additional accessible pockets for hands or supplies. And all the aprons come with a cleaning rag attached – again, practical.”

The aprons come in a variety of patterns and retail for $40 on her site at www.cerezastudio.com.

In addition to the aprons, Posternak is offering lined “taco” bags in a series of six, all in the shape of a half circle like a taco and in successive sizes.

“The bags have a colorful wrist band for easy carrying and are perfect to hold anything from coins and keys to makeup, toiletries and snacks,” she added. The retail price of the bags ranges from $9 to $26.

Posternak, who speaks Spanish and travels to Mexico often, buys the materials in Mexico City, León and Nogales, Mexico and has partnered with a seamstress in Nogales, Mexico for the production of her products.

She will officially launch the company at a party in Tucson on Sept. 16 to coincide with Mexican Independence Day. And so far, she already has contracts with several gift shops in Arizona to sell the aprons and bags, including the Shemer Art Center gift shop in Phoenix and the Tohono Chul Park and Tucson Museum of Art gift shops in Tucson. 

“Soon I will add other designs to my inventory such as sunglasses and smartphone holders, water bottle holders, wine bottle totes, market bags, yoga mat covers and iPad covers, and all products will be offered in a variety of colors and patterns,” she added.

Posternak has been an artist for 40 years and her preferred medium has changed many times. In college at Hampshire College in Massachusetts and Montclair State in New Jersey she studied psychology, photography and metalworking. She made jewelry and sold her goods in shops and at fairs for 15 years before owning a crafts gallery featuring 300 artists in Middleburg, Virginia for nine years.

“During that time I began making mosaic works, whose colorful and graphic qualities more closely resembled my artistic sensibility than the more neutral and sculptural characteristics of metalworking,” she said.

“About nine years ago I began painting with wax. The medium is called encaustic, and allows the artist to employ a full “tool box” of techniques, marry other materials with the wax and express oneself in a myriad of ways -- from minimalist to maximalist, representational to abstract, 2-D to 3-D, and mirror smooth to very highly textured. I show these works and teach workshops in encaustic regionally, nationally and internationally.”

Posternak was recently interviewed for an article that is appearing in the current (September) issue of the e-newsletter SonoranArtsNetwork.net.

She said her hope is to make enough from the sale of the aprons and other products to support her encaustic art endeavors.

“So far, so good,” Posternak added. “It’s already been a great experience, with ups and downs, but I look forward to the ride.”

To order one of her products, or for additional information, visit www.cerezastudio.com.

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Photos by Robin Stancliff. Artist Sherrie Posternak modeling her creations.