Moki Cherry

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Moki Cherry (1943 to 2009) was a Swedish artist and designer. She was born Monika Marianne Karlsson in Koler in northern Sweden, the daughter of the stationmaster and the postal clerk. In 1962 she went to Stockholm to study fashion and textiles at Beckman's School of Design, where she specialised in illustration, patterns and clothing. In 1964 she had a daughter, Neneh, who later became a singer herself.

Music and breakthrough

In 1963 she met the American jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, when he was on tour with Sonny Rollins in Stockholm. In the years that followed they became a couple. After graduating in 1966 she travelled to New York and their lifelong collaboration began. She worked with textiles, painting, woodwork, collage, ceramics, fashion and set design. Her colourful tapestries formed the setting for Don's performances and adorned his record sleeves, such as those of Brown Rice, Relativity Suite and Organic Music Society. The clothes he wore on stage also came from her.

Influence

The couple performed under the name Organic Music, with her artworks on display, and gave workshops for children. Her work drew on influences from Indian art and music, Tibetan Buddhism, folk art, abstraction, comics and pop art. From 1977 she lived alternately in Tågarp in Sweden and in Long Island City in New York. She shows how closely visual art and jazz were intertwined in the 1960s and 1970s.

Listening