Is it possible to capture the fleeting effects of shadows and clouds? Can the feelings and observations one experiences walk in in a meadow or staring up into a night sky be recreated? Can deterioration be conveyed simultaneous to growth and buildup? Pollution and decay with purity and new life? Of the many challenges a visual artist faces when creating a work, one of he most intense can be that of putting intangible emotions, concepts and experiences into palpable, solid form.

Cheryl Holz has mastered such a conundrum by poignantly nurturing the delicate balance between the material world of organic life and the ethereal realm of thought and idea. Employing wood panels that protrude about 3 inches form the wall, Holz layers a cornucopia of materials: acrylic paints, encaustic, plaster, copper and various found organic objects such as egg shells, stones, sticks, leaves, pine needles and bugs.

Hailing form a suburb of Chicago, Holz is a keen observer of the world around her: "My 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."

To that end, the artist builds thick layers and then carves away at them scratching out words or burying tiny bits of nature into squared off niches. Through strata of color, thickness and texture, each painting takes on a life force al its won, half alive and half decayed.

While socio-environmental messages inspire these works, the utter beauty of Holz's lush colors, tactile layers and harmonious materials seem to eclipse any type of didacticism or strident call to action. the paintings, like nature itself, evolve throughout the day as the light changes, deepening colors on one panel and highlighting surfaces on others.

Holz's paintings are a microcosm of a world teeming with organic forms and a macrocosm of the cosmos, awesome and ageless. With these palimpsests of life observed, the artist has achieved that ineffable balance between that which we see and that which we feel and know to be true.

Here is another review: Excerpt form ART TRENDS September 2000 by Sandy Mitchell