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Born in 1965 in Chicago, IL, United States


1992-95, M.F.A., Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL

1991-92, California State University, Northridge, CA

1985-88, B.S., Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL


"I grew up in the country. As a child, I roamed the woods and fields collecting moss, bugs, leaves, and to my mother’s chagrin, snakes and salamanders. I still collect all kinds of things, including butterfly wings, overdue notices, leaves, labels, eggshells, stamps, and kelp. These collections have found their place in my work.

That early fascination with nature has led me to investigate natural forms as well as human designs and marks; the connections between nature’s patterns and those in our own lives continue to fascinate me and invigorate my art. As Diane Ackerman observes in the foreward to The Design of Nature:
We confront patterns in our daily events, actions and objects.
Our conversations meander like rivers.
Junk-mail dunes on cluttered desks.
Families branch.
Music curves, spirals and flows.

The symbolic implications of the methods and materials I use in my work are as important as the concepts and forms. I might build up and then wear away a surface, exposing underlying images, or I might accrete images in layers. As the layers accumulate or disintegrate, erosion and deterioration mark them just as weather and time mark nature.

What lies beneath always relates to and connects with what lies above, unifying the work. I seek a textured surface that combines natural marks, artifacts, signs, tracks, wings, shells, leaves-with such human creations as language, diagrams, calligraphic marks, technical or poetic texts, and song lyrics. Much of the writing is deliberately illegible; it suggests the idea of writing as a sign of human activity, rather than as a signifier, to use a semiotic term.

Spontaneity is integral to my work. In joining the free and spontaneous to the thoughtful and rational, I seek a sensuous surface that also offers meaning, that satisfies intellectually as well as aesthetically. "

Cheryl Holz, March 2003

  • Selected Solo Exhibitions
  • 2003: Downers Grove Public Library, Downers Grove, IL

  • 2002:
  • Fermilab Art Gallery, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL

  • Olcott Art Gallery, Wheaton, IL

  • 2001:
  • Union League Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Cheryl Holz: Recent Work

  • Astra Gallery,Theosophical Society, Richmond, VA, Cheryl Holz: Current Work

  • 1999: Aurora University, Aurora, IL

  • 1998: Brickton Gallery & Art Center, Park Ridge, IL

  • 1996:
  • Northern Trust, Chicago, IL

  • DeKalb Area Women's Center, DeKalb, IL


  • Selected Group Exhibitions
  • 2003:
  • Modern Primitive Gallery, Atlanta, GA

  • Astra Design, Richmond, VA

  • 2002:
  • Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL, Dialogue

  • Lane Allen Architects Gallery, Batavia, IL Scribbles: Art & Text

  • 2001:
  • Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL, Illinois Women Artists: The New Millennium

  • Quincy Art Center, Quincy, IL, Illinois Women Artists: The New Millennium

  • Opening Night Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

  • AnamArt Gallery, Naperville, IL

  • 2000:
  • Rockford College Art Gallery, Rockford, IL, Four Women, Four Voices

  • Gwenda Jay Addington, Chicago, IL

  • Lakeview Museum, Peoria, IL

  • Parkland Art Gallery, Champaign, IL

  • Southern Illinois Art Gallery, Rend Lake, IL

  • Illinois State University, Normal, IL, Illinois Women Artists: The New Millenium

  • 1999:
  • National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.

  • Illinois State Museum Art Gallery, Chicago, IL

  • 1998:
  • Aurora Public Art Commission, Aurora, IL

  • Aurora University, Aurora, IL

  • Old Courthouse Arts Center, Woodstock, IL, Women's Works 11th Annual Exhibition

  • 1997:
  • Davenport Museum of Art, Davenport, IL, Bi-State Competitive Art Exhibition

  • Dellora A. Norris Cultural Arts Center, St. Charles, IL, St. Charles Art and Music Festival

  • Old Courthouse Arts Center, Woodstock, IL, Women's Works 10th Annual Exhibition

  • 1996: Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL, On the Horizon

  • 1995:
  • Hugh N. Ronald Memorial Gallery, Center for the Arts, Portland, Indiana, Harvest Biennial

  • North Lakeside Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, Wood, Fiber, & Clay: Inner Revelations Expressed through the Tactile

  • Old Courthouse Arts Center, Woodstock, IL, Women's Works 8th Annual Exhibition

  • Gruen Galllery, Chicago, IL

  • Wright Museum of Art, Beliot College, Beloit, WI, 38th Annual Wright Museum of Art Beloit and Vicinity Exhibition


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    Selection of works from Cheryl Holz

    Read the guestbook of Cheryl Holz

    Sign the guestbook of Cheryl Holz

  • 2003, Residency, Ragdale Foundation

  • 2002, Residency, Ragdale Foundation

  • 2001, Residency, Ragdale Foundation

  • 2000:
  • Jurors Award, Three Rivers Arts Festival Juried Visual Arts Exhibition

  • Jurors Award, Artistic Fusion 2000

  • Ragdale Foundation Residency

  • 1999, Residency, Ragdale Foundation

  • 1998, Arts-in Education Grant, Illinois Arts Council

  • 1997:
  • Arts-in Education Grant, Illinois Arts Council

  • Judges Award, Women's Works 10th Annual Exhibition

  • 1996, Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center

  • 1995, Artistic Merit Award, Women's Works 8th Annual Exhibition



  • 1994:
  • Scholarship, Northern Illinois University Alumni Association Scholarship

  • Purchase Award, Three Rivers Arts Festival

  • 1993, Nomination for CD Cover of the Year, Independent Film Record Label Industries

  • 1988, Canon Award, Northern Illinois University

  • 1987:
  • Academic Scholarship, Northern Illinois University

  • Scholarship, Illinois Art Education Association

  • 1983, Elizabeth Stein Award, Illinois State University School of Art


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