STATEMENT
My work is a meditation on nature, the universe, and our small place within it. The work moves between representation and abstraction, intertwining life forms with geological and astronomical motifs. I draw initial inspiration from my garden in the Catskills, then I expand outward to the ecological, earthly, and cosmic.
Each work builds upon the idea of interconnection by combining aspects of sculpture and painting. The sculptures are coated in modeling compound and colored with pigments that pool and thin across surfaces, accentuating their topography. To make the paintings, I brush shapes of raw canvas with paint, then sew the segments into larger compositions. Throughout each work, I emphasize the handmade. Shapes are askew, paint drips, and the approach is intuitive.
The kite-shaped paintings allude to the potentiality and precariousness of life and further the terrestrial-to-celestial connections. Hovering between art and craft, object and image, the kite paintings engage with geometric abstraction, the Pattern and Decoration movement, and the history of shaped canvases. They also stitch together my memories of kite-making with my father, an artist, and the quilt patterns of my grandmothers—aligning me with generations of artists and needleworkers in my family.
BIOGRAPHY
Cadence Giersbach’s work has been featured in solo shows in NYC at Satchel Projects, Roebling Hall, and Deitch Projects. Group shows include MoMA PS1, Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, and the Brooklyn Museum. She has received grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and New York Foundation for the Arts and is a MacDowell Fellow. Giersbach’s work has been commissioned by Arts for Transit, MTA and Percent for Art, NYC and is in the collections of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Harvard University, and the RISD Museum. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Art Forum. Giersbach earned a BA from Vassar College, an MFA from Rutgers University, and attended the Skowhegan School. She is currently a studio member at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York City.
Born 1966, New York, NY
Lives and works in New York, NY and Cochecton, NY
SELECTED SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2025 Tail of the Cosmos, Satchel Projects, New York, NY
2024 Through the Summer Garden, Lake George Arts Project, Lake George, NY
2023 Transcendental Meditation, PS122 Gallery, New York, NY (with Susan Rowe Harrison)
2005 Niagara, Roebling Hall, Brooklyn, NY
2001 Tropicalia, Roebling Hall, Brooklyn, NY
1998 Plastic Replicating Garden, Deitch Projects, New York, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Primeval Ground, Westbeth, New York, NY
2025 Living Systems, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY
• Thicket, Overlap Gallery, Newport, RI
2024 Of Flesh and Bones, PS122 Gallery, New York, NY
• Reshaping Abstraction, Concord Arts, Concord, MA
• Counterpointe 11, Norte Maar, Brooklyn, NY (dance performance)
• Orwell’s Garden II, Orwell’s Garden/High Desert Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2023 Mirror Milk, Satchel Projects, New York, NY
2015 Triacontagon: 30 Years of Artists’ Fellowships, Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY
2008 Repositioning Landscape, Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT
2006 New Work, Usdan Gallery, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
2003 After Matisse/Picasso, MoMA PS1, Queens, NY
2002 Pausing to Shift, Glyndor Gallery, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY
• On Perspective, Galerie Faurschou, Copenhagen, Denmark
2001 Lion, on display with Eternal Egypt, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
• Operativo, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
2000 Insites, Whitney Museum of American Art at Champion, Stamford, CT
• Reality Bytes: The Look Mediated by the Media, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany
EDUCATION
1995 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME
1995 MFA, Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ
1988 BA, Honors in Art, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
SELECTED AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2025 The Elizabeth Foundation of the Arts, New York, NY, Studio Member
2005 Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2002 NYFA Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY
1997 Pollock Krasner Foundation Fellowship
• MacDowell Residency Fellowship, Peterborough, NH
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2007 From Earth to Sky, Myrtle and Wyckoff Avenue Station, Brooklyn, NY, Commissioned by Arts for Transit, MTA
• Tuscan Pastoral, The Siena, Montclair, NJ, Commissioned by Herod and the Township of Montclair
2000 Garden in a School: Impressions of Jackson Heights, I.S. 230, Jackson Heights, NY, Commissioned by NYC Bd. of Ed. & NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs, Percent for Art
• Garden Reverie, Palladium at CityPlace, West Palm Beach, Florida, Commissioned by the Palladium Co.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY
Harvard University, Boston, MA
RISD Museum, Providence, RI
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
B. Amore. “Reshaping Abstraction.” Art New England, March/April, 2024.
Sandra Bloodworth and William Ayres. New York’s Underground Art Museum: MTA Arts and Design. New York: The Monicelli Press, 2014.
Marvin Heiferman (ed.). City Art: New York’s Percent for Art Program. New York: Merrell, 2005. p.196.
Talk of the Town. The New Yorker, April 11, 2005.
Yasufumi Nakamori. Decipher: Hand Painted Digital. 2005. Brochure.
Jennifer McGregor. Pausing to Shift. 2002. Brochure
Leah Ollman. “Dots and Dabs That Cast a Spell” Los Angeles Times, July 5, 2002.
Walter Robinson. “Miami Sun,” ArtNet Magazine, December 19, 2001
Simon Watson. Pioneering Sprit: Colbert Art Walk 2001. 2001. Brochure
Tobias Ostrander. Operativo. 2001. Catalog
Holland Cotter. “Art Guide,” The New York Times, May 4, 2001.
Gregory Williams. “New York Critics Picks,” Artforum Online, May 2, 2001.
William Zimmer. “Art: When Daily Life is Examined Closely” New York Times, CT Ed. July 2, 2000.
Erin Barnett. Insites: Interior Spaces in Contemporary Art. June 2000. Catalog.
Ellen Siefermann. Reality Bytes: The Look Mediated by the Media. Brochure April 2000.
Kevin Conley. The New Yorker, October 5, 1998.
Ken Johnson. “Art Guide,” The New York Times, October 2, 1998.
RECORDED ARTIST TALKS
• Jodi Hays, host. Visual Quitter: Cadence Giersbach. Episode 18. September 3, 2025, LINK
• Elisabeth Condon, interviewer. “Cadence Giersbach at Satchel Projects” June, 2025. LINK
• Valerie Mansi, host. “Cadence Giersbach at DVAA” Radio Catskill WJEFF, April, 2024. AUDIO
• Cadence Giersbach Artist Talk at Lake George Arts Project, July, 2024. YOUTUBE
• Paddy Johnson, host. Art Problems, What to Focus on When You Have Limited Time: An Interview with Cadence Giersbach. Episode 46. January 31, 2024, PODCAST
• Robyn Love, host. Small Things Brought Together, Season 4, Episode 3: Cadence Giersbach. December 6, 2022. YOUTUBE
Cadence Giersbach 