Cecily Herzig graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Studio Art and a second degree in Environmental Studies. Since her undergraduate days, she has avoided labels and endeavored to evolve ever forward with her work. To maintain a fresh perspective she has worked in a diverse range of mediums including prints, watercolors, oils and felt. She began exhibiting with a series Crayon Creature drawings and oil paintings. Over the last several years the crayon pieces have been a collaboration with her pre-school aged son & his peers. From those scribbles she creates lively and fanciful characters perched on the edge of mischievous doings. The end result being a richly colored cinematic like image.
Regardless of medium, Herzig seeks the decisive moment. In Herzig’s recent watercolors, the decisive moment is present in the pensive, often cryptic phrases and odd bits of text placed very deliberately throughout her marvelously playful works. One is overtaken with the impression that these words have real meaning at real moments in her life experience. By pairing the carefully rendered creatures with the interspersed phrases the viewer is provided with a license to create the moment for themselves. Thereby, producing a challenging truthfulness that is rarely seen outside of representational or even photorealistic styles.
“While creating and looking at art I am fascinated by the little moments: the 1” square filled with an intricate interplay of color, the periwinkle smudged with white melting into orange, the approach of yellow in the middle of the night, the sudden jag or subtle curve of a line…overheard conversations, bits of text… All those vignettes of sight & sound adding up to present something unexpected.”
Cecily Herzig’s work currently hangs in the headquarters of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund in New York City and has been sold in fundraisers by the Human Rights Campaign. Her work hangs in many private collections throughout the United States including New England, New York and Monterey California.
Press/Reviews
Hoppe, Theodore A. “Review – Cecily Herzig at the Supreme Court in Montpelier,” March 27, 2010.
Hanson, Alex. “Cultivating Creativity – Helping Your Child’s Natural Abilities to Blossom.” Valley News, Parents, Quarterly Magazine of the Valley News, Issue 5, May 8, 2009.
Polston, Pamela. “Portraits by the Artist as a Very Young Man…and His Mom.” Seven Days, November 14-21, 2007
Hanson, Alex. “At White River’s First Friday, The Tour Features Art Openings.” Valley News, September 6, 2007
Hanson, Alex. “Strafford Shop Exhibits ‘Crayonamundo’ Drawings.” Valley News, April 13, 2006
Excerpts:
Seven Days, Vermont’s Independant Voice, Portraits by the Artist as a Very Young Man . . . and His Mom, by Pamela Polston, November 2007.
“This should not be mistaken for kiddie art: Herzig’s color sensibility and execution are too sophisticated for that. Still, most of her works with Ever include some googly-eyed critter of indeterminate provenance. These tend to look simultaneously fierce and cute, à la Maurice Sendak. “
Valley News – Exerpt from an article that reviewed 4 concurrent shows in White River Junction, VT, September 2007.
“…The paintings and crayon drawings that comprise “Birds, Bats and the Bizarre” have been inhabiting the Hotel Coolidge’s Zollikofer Gallery for a while now, but a reception for artist Cecily Herzig is scheduled for tomorrow night.
Herzig has spent much of the past three-and-a-half years caring for her young son. Her drawings and paintings have a sort of monster-under-the-bed quality – half-Sesame Street, half-Nightmare on Elm Street – that gives a sharp edge to their wacked-out cheerfulness and childishness…” ~ Alex Hanson
Memberships/Proffessional Affiliations
Curator, OpenMuseum
Board Member, League of NH Craftsmen, CraftStudies
Collections
Cecily Herzig’s work currently hangs in the headquarters of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund in New York City and has been sold in fundraisers by the Human Rights Campaign. Her work hangs in many private collections throughout the United States and Europe.