A little about me

Nell Hergenrather received her formal art training at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she primarily worked with oil on canvas. Over the last 30 years she has been sculpting, mold-making, and using cutting edge materials to create plants, landscapes, cityscapes, and underwater worlds. There is a futuristic and hopeful nature to her work, much like the person behind it, and she asks the viewer to look closely to appreciate the variety of texture and mediums she is using. Her bird and fish characters access a comical and even skeptical perspective, challenging the viewer to relate. Somehow her sculptural forms do the same in a three dimensional way, bringing something familiar and something unexpected at once.  Much of Nell's upbringing was unconventional, from the hippy commune she was raised on until age 9, to the year-long journey around the world at age 14. Through these experiences she has cultivated a voice in her work that values the eclectic, and yet steers toward universal principles of balance, simplicity, and natural forms.

 

“The more I learn about art and art history, the more I feel like my work leans towards a new Art Deco movement. I want the clean lines and gilded opulence, but also a look towards sustainable futures, aligned with the likes of Buckminster Fuller and Ruth Asawa. I want elegance, wonder and a deep respect for our natural world.”