Cheryl Holz

I grew up in the country where I collected moss, bugs, leaves and, to my mother’s chagrin, snakes and salamanders. My rural upbringing was the major influence on my aesthetic sensibility and artwork. Now I am a professional artist, amateur naturalist, and art material junkie who loves finding new materials and methods to interpret the natural forms I find, collect, and photograph during regular excursions into the forest preserves of Illinois with my brilliant rescue pups Max and Duncan by my side.

My nature inspired mixed media artwork is a homage to nature’s strength, beauty, and my desire to impart my love of nature to others. I emulate natural aging processes in the studio with paint and materials, building up and wearing away like water on rock. I have always conscientiously collected specimens and learned how best to preserve and integrate them, but lately I have been using some more indirect techniques that also capture aspects of plants, trees, or a landscape. Being a process junkie, I’m now using Ecoprints, digital prints, silkscreen specimens, transfers, digitally cut silhouettes, and most recently archivally printed photographs in my work. I liken my process to jazz: after much preparation and research, I jump in and improvise with processes and the material I’ve prepared, striving for equilibrium between spontaneity and deliberation.

I’ve been in museums, galleries, corporations, but my greatest reward is loading my dog into the truck and heading to the stud ... view more »