Bio
Sylvi Herrick has a natural desire for extremes and splits her time between two “base camps” in Palo Alto, California - epicenter of technology and innovation, the future of how we live and St. Augustine, Florida - the oldest city in the US, a southern town fecund with history and ghosts.
She feeds off of the two extremes. Her nature is to explore. She does not feel limited by materials and her work spans a wide range of media including painting, drawing, design, sculpture, fashion, curator, performance, collaboration, interior and exterior design.
Schools she has attended include, California College of the Arts, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and she received her BA with honors from Hamilton College, NY.
Inspired by textiles and fashion, post college she took two years and taught English in Japan and investigated traditional textiles and dying techniques throughout Southeast Asia. Upon return to the US, Sylvi attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) and received a degree in Fashion Design. She worked with non-profit collectives in South America to create knitwear for Indigenous Designs, LL Bean, Sundance catalogue, Sky Mall, and other companies. After working in the fashion industry in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, she returned to her immutable fine arts passion and attended California College of the Arts (CCA) and received her MFA in painting.
She has taught in the art departments at California College of the Arts, Diablo Valley College and Flagler College. Commercial work has included color consultation for architects: she proposed what is currently the color scheme for Whole Foods, Oakland, CA. STYX’s world tour ’99 included a back drop she was commissioned to paint. For the ARC of the St. John’s she curated and produced a traveling photography show. Her work has been shown in galleries around the world including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Zurich.
She desires to never ever stop creating art and to always be involved with personal, public and commercial art projects.
SELECTED SHOWS
2018
diptyque Palo Alto, Palo Alto, CA
Sand Salutations, Kings Ferry House, St. Augustine, FL
Truth Seekers Show, Atelier J. Wolfe, Jacksonville, FL
2017
Under 500, Space Gallery, Jacksonville, FL
2016
Inaugural Show, Space Gallery, Jacksonville, FL
2015
Obelisk, Compassionate St. Augustine, FL Permanent Collection of Flagler Hospital
New Paintings, Kings Ferry House, St. Augustine, FL
2014
Unaffected Vision: Free to See Beautiful, Curator, Crisp Ellert Museum, Flagler College,
St. Augustine, FL & The Cultural Center of Ponte Vedra Beach, Ponte Vedra, FL
2012
Faculty Show, Crisp Ellert Museum, Flagler College, FL
2011
Group Show, Juror, Mayo Clinic of St. Augustine, FL
2007
Group Show, Walter Maciel Gallery, Culver City, CA
2004
Magnificent Obsession, Sonoma Museum of Visual Art, Sonoma, CA
2002
Faculty Show, Diablo Valley College, CA
1999
Roses & Tears, Institut Futur, Rapperswil, Switzerland
Graduate Show, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
All College Honors Awards, Paulette Long and Shepard Pollock Graduate Gallery, Oakland, CA
Group Show, Pat Steir, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna, FL
Group Show, Gregory Amenoff, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna, FL
EDUCATION
1999
California College of the Arts, MFA Painting, San Francisco, CA
1997
San Francisco Art Institute, Sculpture classes, San Francisco, CA
1996
School for the Art Institute of Chicago, Painting Intensive, Chicago, IL
1992
Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Fashion Design, San Francisco, CA
1989
Hamilton College, Painting with Honors, Clinton, NY
1985
Rhode Island School of Design, Pre-College Art Program, Providence, RI
HONORS & RESIDENCIES
2019
Haus am See, Luzern, Switzerland
2017
Haus am See, Luzern, Switzerland
1999
Schimidhieny Artist Grant, Rapperswil, Switzerland
All Honors Award, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
1998
Residency with Pat Steir, Atlantic Center for the Arts, FL
1997
Residency with Gregory Amenoff, Atlantic Center for the Arts, FL
1996
Scholarship Painting Intensive, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
1985-1999
Stephen A. Jefferies Educational Grant, Jefferies and Company, Los Angeles, CA
TEACHING
2010-2016
Adjunct Professor of Art, Flagler College, St. Augustine, FL
2004 - 2008
Adjunct Professor of Art, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2003
Visiting Critic, Architecture Dept., California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2001-2004
Adjunct Professor of Drawing and Painting, Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA