Erika b Hess is a painter, The Sydelle Sonkin and Herb Segull Artistic Director of Visual Arts at Chautauqua Institution, and creator of the art podcast- I Like Your Work. Hess’s work has been exhibited internationally, including in New York City, Brooklyn, Detroit, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and London. Recent group exhibitions include First Street Gallery, New York City, NY; Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Fower-Kellogg Art Center, Chautauqua, NY; Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH; and Bomb Factory, London, England. Hess has been featured in a range of publications, such as Art New England, ArtScope, AllSHEMakes, Bostonia, and Visionary Art Magazine, among others. She has curated and juried numerous exhibitions, publications, and awards, including those for Cambridge Art Association (Cambridge, MA), Gallery 263 (Cambridge, MA), Riffe Gallery (Columbus, OH), AllSheMakes, Arts to Hearts, Create Magazine, Women’s United Art, and Friend of the Artist. Hess has also participated on panels at SCOPE Artfair (Miami), Cleveland Institute of Art, and Boston University. Additionally, she frequently delivers lectures at various colleges and universities, including American University, Wellesley College, Pratt, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, The University of Montana, Missouri State University, Eastern Michigan University, and several others. Hess maintains an active studio practice in Columbus, OH, and in Long Island City in New York, where she keeps a selected inventory of work. She is represented by Contemporary Art Matters in Columbus, OH. Hess received her BFA from Wright State University and her MFA from Boston University.

I paint because I am a woman who is lost. I do not mind being lost; I prefer to seek and discover what we can experience in small, cloaked moments. We spot a reflection in a puddle and see our world in a two-dimensional mirror rooted to the earth- the sky on the ground, our face at our feet. My paintings are psychological landscapes that communicate emotions and experiences through the vibrant language of color, anchoring itself in the recurring motif of puddles. Puddles, symbolizing emotions and experiences, are fleeting pools of water that mirror their surroundings. They materialize with the rain and vanish just as swiftly, paralleling the impermanence of human experience. Puddles also serve as metaphors for our past and future. They tend to form in the same location, etching impressions in the environment much like how our experiences deepen pathways within our psyche. In the realm of Jungian psychology, water symbolizes the subconscious—a domain where the surface often conceals hidden depths. I draw inspiration from Jung's assertion that "Water means spirit that has become unconscious." My art delves into this uncharted spirit, abstractly painting the water's surface to evoke movement while hinting at the enigmatic depths beneath. Encompassing the puddles is what I term "The Wilderness," a realm teeming with intense and multifaceted experiences. This wilderness may embody danger, the pursuit of spiritual transcendence, renewal, or a place of introspection. It's within the interplay between the puddle and the wilderness surrounding it that the emotions and tension I aim to convey take root.

Exhibition:

Mythology/Matriarchy