Piece description from the artist
Inspired by lily pads and mushroom caps, this work is purely a design-like image for color splash and pop.
Ali Herrmann is a mixed media painter and science lover, whose work explores cellular structures as an origin into her abstract paintings. Creating what she terms ‘micro-biome landscapes,’ Herrmann uses SEM images as inspiration to explore concepts of blood, bacteria, and unicellular structures within her abstract paintings. Influences of color, shapes, and light, help develop the layers in her work. Her use of repetition and patterns assist in creating these abstract artworks. The repetition of an object and form attempts to understand and interpret natural rhythmic orders on micro and macro levels. Her desire is driven to understand how individual elements and pieces come together to create a whole. With the creation of each painting, Herrmann pushes the boundaries and depth of the paint medium by combining materials such as ink, acrylic, oil, graphite, and wax to create richly colored, luminous works of art. She often uses scrapers and knife tools to incorporate sgraffito techniques and textures within her work. Revealing etched lines and hidden layers of underlying color, she successfully creates awe-inspiring, multi-layered effects in each painting.
The early stages of Herrmann’s career began in 1994. With a focus on geological
science, she pursued studies at Colgate University, where she quickly became a Phi Eta Sigma scholar. While meeting course requirements, she took an intro art 101 class and reignited her childhood passion for art. By 1995, she transferred to Bennington College to continue her education. While at Bennington, Herrmann continued studies in genetics and biological science, learning through a cross-disciplinary model that the college promotes. In 1997, Herrmann received a Student Endowment for the Arts grant, which allowed her to pursue a large scale, independent paper installation, artistically mapping male/female chromosome structures, merging her interest in science with her passion for the arts. By 1998 she received a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree, specializing in painting and printmaking. Since college, she has maintained a cross-disciplinary
interest within her painting styles, incorporating both natural and biological sciences. Ali's most recent artistic endeavor, completed in 2020, lies in the creation of her work 'Paper Trail,' a 45' long multipaneled paper painting, created site-specifically at the Stationery Factory in Dalton, Ma. The artwork is created using paper in the building around her studio, painting in layers with large, hand torn, colorful paper strips, emulating rhythmic patterns of a sound visualizer effect.
Herrmann’s continuously growing accolades include artistic residencies at the Vermont Studio School in 2007, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY in 2017, and the Millay Colony, Austerlitz, NY, 2020. Throughout her career, Herrmann has been awarded multiple grants: a SCR grant through the Arts Center of the Capital Region/New York State Council on the Arts 2023 & 2022, a Massachusetts local cultural council grant in 2017, an A.R.T. fund grant recipient in 2020, as well as a Martha Boschen Porter Fund Grant recipient from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation in 2014 and 2019. Herrmann exhibits work at Albany Center Gallery in Albany, NY, The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, MA, and The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY. Her work is in the collections of RCA, Screen Gems Productions, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and the Red Lion Inn.
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