As Nona Hershey has said of her work:
Since the beginning of time, clouds have represented uncertainty; the wrath of gods; the beneficent containers of rain; the boundary between this world, and the mystery beyond. Clouds have caused and witnessed instability and power within and beyond their control.
We instantaneously analyze, pixelate, and quantify the components of our daily experiences, transforming occurrences into digital memory. Although we can’t see the proliferation of signals and techno-chatter that our devices emit, their energy is palpable. We don’t yet know the full extent to which that interference affects us, or our environment. In my work I am juxtaposing what I imagine to be the invisible activity of those signals, with naturalistic clouds. My hope is that despite our ever-increasing urge to connect immediately with things and places around us, we don’t forfeit time spent on the humble meditation of the sublime- those enigmatic sources larger than ourselves: wind, light, and air.
From a distance my clouds appear meticulously rendered yet they are actually loose, abstract markings made with graphite powder. My drawing tools are cotton balls imbued with differing amounts of graphite powder which I rub on to the paper slowly. Touch is paramount. This gradual, incremental process is an ongoing inventive dialogue as tones become shapes and shapes become clouds, animated by the character of their edges.
Hershey has had residency grants at the Assilah Forum Foundation, Morocco; Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ireland; Ucross Foundation, WY; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts; the Vermont Studio Center; and twice at the MacDowell Colony, NH. She taught printmaking at Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy for 12 years and at Temple University’s Tokyo program for one year. Since September 1993, Hershey has been Professor and Coordinator of the Printmaking Department at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. She was awarded a Somerville Arts Council Artist Fellowship Grant, A Massachusetts Cultural Council Award and in 2018, a Massachusetts Cultural Council Finalist Award.
