The Work

I find inspiration in the organic world – in the  infinite variations of color, shape, and texture of a piece of driftwood or a dried pear. I let my imagination run free to create an abstract vision – nature filtered through my sensibilities as expressed in prints, paintings, sculptures, and photographs.

In my sculptures and installations, I combine organic materials with manmade objects. I capture the inherent strength of opposites united, pliant and stiff, smooth and rough, natural and artificial – tubes of birch, for example, paired with figures made of plumber’s solder. I seek to keep these materials in a state of tension, on edge, subverting their usual function to transcend the materials themselves and suggest the uncertainty and transience of the physical realm.

I am fascinated by the surfaces of the natural world and the secrets hidden within them. In my works on paper, I explore the artistic potential of such phenomena as sunlight and moving water, inspiring the creation of highly textural prints and multimedia art.  

Caryl Stern lives and works in New York City. After careers in the theatre as actor, director, producer, and teacher, and in journalism as a writer for such publications as The New York Times and Parade Magazine, she enrolled in art classes at the National Academy Museum School, the New York School of the Arts, and the Anderson Ranch in Colorado. She has won prizes in printmaking, multimedia, and sculpture. Her art has been shown in national and international exhibitions and is in private collections in this country and Europe.