About Heather

I am originally from Kansas and attended the University of Kansas for my undergrad degree in Printmaking. I migrated to Maryland to attend MICA for my MFA in interdisciplinary studies. Currently I teach at MICA, Towson University and UMBC.

Things

Dollhouse items staged in real world settings
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sculpture/installation

  • Everywhere and Nowhere
    Everywhere and Nowhere
    This piece consists of two mirrors, directly across from each other. On one of the mirrors, the word nowhere is etched, backwards, so that it can only be read in the mirror across from it. On the other mirror is etched the word Everywhere, backwards, so that it too, may only be read in the opposite mirror.
  • Nowhere
    Nowhere
  • Everywhere and Nowhere
    Everywhere and Nowhere
    The two mirrors create an infinite tunnel, going both nowhere and everywhere.
  • Seeing Eye to Eye
    Seeing Eye to Eye
    Two pairs of glasses become one. A visual palindrome.
  • Defense
    Defense
    A chair is wedged under a door knob.
  • Escape
    Escape
    From a suspended window a series of sheets tied together hang to the floor.
  • Escape detail
    Escape detail
    a view of the window
  • Rope and Hanger, detail
    Rope and Hanger, detail
    A Hanger spells the word rope
  • Cement Shoes
    Cement Shoes

Humans and small objects

A extended photo series of human bodies as backgrounds for miniature objects.
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  • Park Bench
    Park Bench
  • Tree
    Tree
  • Corner
    Corner
  • Ladder
    Ladder
  • Debate
    Debate

Portraits in places

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People

Images of people cut from magazines and place in real world settings
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Tubs

Photographs taken of images cut from home improvement magazines and placed in natural environments.
  • Tub 8
    Tub 8
    20x16 archival inkjet print
  • Tub 1
    Tub 1
    20x16 archival inkjet print
  • Tub 10
    Tub 10
    20x16 archival inkjet print
  • Tub 2
    Tub 2
    20x16 archival inkjet print
  • Tub 3
    Tub 3
    20x16 archival inkjet print
  • Tub 5
    Tub 5
    20x16 archival inkjet print
  • Tub 4
    Tub 4
    20x16 archival inkjet print
  • Tub 6
    Tub 6
    20x16 archival inkjet print
  • Tub 7
    Tub 7
    20x16 archival inkjet print
  • Tub 9
    Tub 9
    20x16 archival inkjet print

Better Homes

Photographs of images cut from magazines and staged in the real world.
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Threshold

The eye of the storm, a liminal place between the chaos which rages in a thunderstorm and the order of a rigid grid, is one of eerie certainty and calm. Using a combination of readymade and hand crafted objects I create sculpture which calls to mind Surrealism and the uncanny. Domestic objects are rendered dysfunctional and arranged with stark theatricality within the gallery which echoes both Minimalism and haunted house attractions. These objects could suggest situations which are metaphors for relationships; from person to person, object to object, and nation to nation.

The body is evoked psychically in the sculptures but used directly in the photographs by using the hair of a dear friend, a distortion of scale is brought into play when tiny objects, specifically, dollhouse doors, are placed in it.

Threshold is an exhibition consisting of photographs and sculpture. Two photos face each other on opposing walls. The imagery shows doors being flooded by cascading black hair, which overcomes the threshold, like a deluge of rushing black water. On the wall between them I recreated the image of doors by using photographs in a grid to mimic the windows, swirling hair presses against each window. In front of the door is a dining room table which has a trap door embedded in it and a ladder which leads below, similar to a cellar door, where one might seek refuge from a storm. Across the room are the four chairs which would normally sit around the table facing each other, instead I have fused them back to back, so that no one may look another in the eye. These chairs are connected forever, much like a family, yet disconnected. Hanging above each chair is a lightbulb, representing perhaps the energy of a person. Each bulb flickers and brightens in correlation to the sound of a thunderstorm. The thunder rumbles and crescendos and each light responds to the sound in it's own way. This might represent the underlying discord within some homes, the visual representation of a four way argument. As one leaves the room, embedded in a gallery pillar is a spigot, and from the spigot pours more of the familiar black hair. Hanging on the wall is a man's suit jacket, facing the wall, revealing the back of the coat which has a working clock marking the relentless passage of time.
  • Black Water Spigot
    Black Water Spigot
    A spigot embedded in the wall, a flood of black hair pours out like water.
  • Time Waits For No Man
    Time Waits For No Man
    This jacket hangs facing the wall, a ticking clock embedded in the back, marking the relentless passage of time.
  • Threshold
  • Storm Is Brewing
    Storm Is Brewing
    Four conjoined chairs back-to-back, make facing each other impossible while maintaining physical connection. Each chair has a light bulb suspended over it, each on it's own channel, flickering and flashing to it's own perception of the sound of a raging thunderstorm. I will post a video of this.
  • Escape Table
    Escape Table
    Made from found objects; the table boasts it's own trap door and ladder to safety.
  • Swept Away
    Swept Away
    Archival inkjet print, 30x40
  • French Door Flood
    French Door Flood
    Archival Inkjet Print, 30x40
  • Detail of photo arrangement
    Detail of photo arrangement
    This is a detail of one of the panes of the photo installation on the back wall. It represents one of the doors shown in the photographs.
  • Installation view
    Installation view
    On the far wall is a photographic installation arranged to represent the door shown in the other photos. Each frame is like a window, the swirling hair pressing against each pane, trying to get in. Directly in front is the Escape Table. On walls opposite are photographs facing each other containing the deluge of hair which have overcome thresholds. In the foreground is the chair piece.