Cheryl Hochberg
Cheryl Agulnick Hochberg is an Arizona-based painter and printmaker whose projects explore the idea of “place.”
Cheryl’s paintings were recently included in a 4-person exhibit at Drawing Rooms in Jersey City and in Art that Matters to the Planet at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, NY. Her prints were shown at Manhattan Graphics (NYC), the Brinton Museum (Wyoming), the Hunterdon Museum (New Jersey), and several biennials, including the 2024 Taiwan International Print Biennial, the 3rd International Print Biennial in Yerevan, Armenia, and the Wuhan Biennial (China).
In 2023, Cheryl’s studio practice was highlighted in the Smithsonian Channel’s ArtNation “Earthworks” episode. Publications that featured her practice and projects include Hoboken Girl and EcoTheo Review. Cheryl is regularly invited to speak about her work, including public lectures at the University of Wyoming, the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, and the China Printmaking Museum.
Cheryl’s work has been generously supported by artist residency opportunities that allow her to work on-site and to explore efficiently. In recent years, she has worked at Ucross and Jentel Arts in Wyoming, Play Summerlake in Oregon, the Guanlan Original Printmaking Base in China, and the Ratamo Center for Printmaking and Photography in Finland.
Cheryl was a 2023 recipient of a New Jersey Individual Artist grant.
Cheryl was Professor of Art at Kutztown University from 1990-2018, chairing the Department of Art and Art History from 2009-2017. She retired in 2018 with Professor Emeritus status.
Artist Statement
I am interested in—indeed compelled by—places. My studio practice requires that I spend extended time in places that are at first unfamiliar. I don’t choose the places, at least not initially. They are chosen for me because of residency opportunities, professional travel, or family reasons. When I am somewhere new, I explore, photograph, talk to local residents, and document the landscape and wildlife. Over time, I return to places that seem to have important stories to tell. The more I return to a place, the deeper my understanding of it.
Although my subject matter is landscape and wildlife, its presentation is informed in equal measure by how humans affect nature and how nature shapes humans. I am interested in the history of human industry, especially its effect on nature in positive, negative, and neutral ways. While my work depicts the places I have been, the human element is woven throughout in text and titles, in choices of materials and collage elements, and in the emotive power of color.
I create my artwork in either my home studio or at the next residency opportunity. It takes time for the experience of being somewhere to filter down, so I begin work on a certain place 3-6 months after returning. I work in a range of formats—painting, printmaking, installation, and public art. The selection of a format is often dictated by opportunities. For example, I don’t regularly seek out public art projects, but if one presents itself in a way that allows me to engage with a certain audience, I work in that format. And printmaking is central to my practice, but I don’t own a press, so I make prints when and where I can.
As a result of the work rhythm I have created, I have four ongoing projects:
Wyoming: Wyoming is singular because it is empty of humans, and large mammals are profuse. Wyoming is the best place I have found to watch wildlife unadapted to human presence.
South China: I have done two residencies at the Guanlan Original Printmaking Base near Shenzhen that have allowed me to view nature in one of the most populous places on the planet. I am interested in the project because the natural world exists in conditions that are both polluted and densely populated.
Finland: This is the newest of my projects since I recently completed a 1-month printmaking residency there. Finland is remarkably empty of both humans AND wildlife. But I enjoyed the sparseness and found sufficient material to continue a project.
Tucson: My husband and I began coming to Tucson in 2021, and because we liked it, we kept returning. This year, we moved to Arizona, in part because the Sonoran desert is so rich in subject material for me. The toughness and delicacy of the desert astonish me, and I feel certain that it will continue to reveal itself to me in new ways for as long as I live and work here.
