Peggy Herrick is a painter, bookmaker, box maker, and a devoted illustrated journal keeper who has lived in Cedar Key, Florida for 16 years. She calls her journals Journey Daybooks. She makes Journey Daybooks, the pages of which contain her personal responses to her surroundings, mostly when she travels, and she fills these books with writing, drawing, painting, and collages. Sometimes books and boxes that contain her work become the support for her work or become the work, itself. Her work, which is mostly made plein aire, has taken her to Ireland, France, Canada, and through several western and southern states. Her studio has been in her kayak, in the Florida wilderness, as she journeyed across the state in 2000, and in the comfort of a small caravan that she tows behind her SUV. Peggy is especially interested in the shapes of things. She draws, using pencil and pen and ink, and she likes to use ink washes to describe values. She paints in both watercolor and acrylic and often works over collaged elements on her journal pages. Recently, she has added simple black and white photographic techniques to her personal work.
Peggy is interested in the sanctity of the natural world, the interdependence of life forms, and the importance of the individual. She explains: “Through the Journey Daybook process, I learn about myself and my place as a human and as a woman in my environment. Where there is risk, I find safe places for reflection and work. Often, my work, itself, implies risk. My physical journeys become metaphors for the meaning of my own journey through life.”
Peggy began studying art when she was 5. After earning an AB degree in biology, She taught biology and physiology at the secondary school level for several years while studying art and medicine. She has been a professional artist since 1969, first as a medical illustrator in New York and Philadelphia and later making fine art. She taught medical illustration at the college level for 2 years. In 1996 she earned a postbaccalaurate BFA from the University of Florida, after which she taught art and volunteered as an arts advocate. For the past three years she has led and facilitated Journey Daybook retreats , teaching the Journey Daybook process to others, especially those who may have difficulty with verbal expression. She is president of the Journey Daybook, Inc., a non-profit cooperative whose purpose it is to provide a forum for teaching, learning, and sharing methods for making illustrated journals.
Links:
Journey Daybook website: www.JourneyDaybook.org
Artists Alliance of North Florida: www.AAONF.org
John C. Campbell Folk School: www.FolkSchool.org
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