Cheryl Hochberg’s Sonoran Diary series captures the nocturnal intensity of the American Southwest through meticulously layered woodcuts.
Cheryl Hochberg creates bold woodcuts and mixed-media works exploring wildlife, landscape, and ecology through layered color, texture, and graphic precision.
Her depictions of the horned toad, rattlesnake, and Gila monster transform these resilient desert inhabitants into monumental presences, creatures illuminated not by sunlight but by the stark, poetic glow of the moon. With bold contrasts, precise carving, and a masterful command of color, Hochberg elevates each animal into a symbol of survival, adaptability, and quiet desert majesty.
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Sonoran Diary I: Horned Toad, Cheryl Hochberg, 2025, color woodcut, 25 x 25 in. / 63.5 x 63.5 cm.
In Horned Toad, Hochberg places the spiny reptile on a bed of cool, jagged stones, rendering its textured body in layered tones of ochre, lavender, and grey. The animal’s silhouette is sharply defined against a pitch-black sky, where a warm, golden moon hangs as a luminous counterbalance. The composition emphasizes the creature’s armored form, its ancient, almost mythic appearance echoed in the lunar backdrop. Hochberg’s woodcut method is crucial here: the carved marks mimic the horned toad’s rugged scales, reinforcing its identity as a desert survivor sculpted by environment and time.
Sonoran Diary II: Rattlesnake, Cheryl Hochberg, 2025, color woodcut with screen print, 25 x 25 in. / 63.5 x 63.5 cm.
Coiled tightly against the orb of a massive moon, the rattlesnake in Sonoran Diary II appears both meditative and lethal. The circular symmetry between the snake’s spiral body and the full moon creates a hypnotic visual rhythm. Hochberg’s use of screen print atop woodcut carving adds crisp highlights along the scales, giving the snake a shimmering, metallic presence. Despite its stillness, the animal radiates tension, a quiet warning embedded in its poised body. By placing predator and moon in intimate proximity, Hochberg underscores the deep, ancient relationship between nocturnal life and lunar cycles.
Sonoran Diary III: Gila Monster, Cheryl Hochberg, 2025, color woodcut with screen print, 25 x 25 in. / 63.5 x 63.5 cm.
In Gila Monster, Hochberg shifts to a more dynamic composition: the lizard moves powerfully across rocky terrain, its heavy limbs and beadlike scales catching the moonlight in sculptural patches. The night sky, peppered with subtle stars, expands the creature’s environment into a vast desert cosmos. Hochberg uses tonal gradients and intricate mark-making to emphasize the Gila monster’s iconic patterning, giving the impression of a creature glowing from within. Its forward motion suggests determination and mystery, an embodiment of the patient, deliberate pace of desert life.
Across the Sonoran Diary series, Hochberg transforms reptiles often overlooked into sublime nocturnal protagonists. The horned toad stands grounded in its stony world; the rattlesnake forms a celestial echo of the moon; the Gila monster advances like an ancient desert guardian. Through woodcut carving and layered color, Hochberg creates intimate portraits that honor these resilient animals and the stark beauty of their habitat. The series ultimately becomes a meditation on survival, adaptation, and the quiet power of the desert night.
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