News
HEATHER ALLEN HIETALA - EVOLUTION
Finlandia Art Gallery, Hancock, Michigan
April 12 - June 5, 2024
Opening reception Friday April 12th, 7 - 8:30 pm
Artist talk Friday April 12th beginning at 7:20 pm
Finlandia Art Gallery will be exhibiting a retrospective of Hietala’s art textiles for the wall. Her vibrant textiles look to her life for inspiration. Combining traditional textile art techniques with painting and screen printing, she creates pieces that explore a sense of space. For many years interior architecture was the subject of her colorful textiles, including stairways, doorways, landings and windows; allude to a journey and become metaphors for various paths, transitions, and thresholds within life’s experiences. The exhibition includes newer work with images of boats; like staircases, boats are universal, representing the universal journey we are all on.
Sponsored by Finlandia Foundation National and American-Scandinavian Foundation
ART EVOLVED: INTERTWINED
Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana: June 30 - October 21, 2023
Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Art Museum, La Conner, Washington: December. 1, 2023 - Feb 28, 2024
Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts: February 1 - March 1, 2025
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi: January 1 - April 1 2026
Art Evolved: Intertwined is a collaboration between the National Basketry Organization and Studio Art Quilts Associates with a wonderful catalogue. Pictured here is “Inner Light” salt fired and wood fired ceramics, upcycled glass, natural material, kakishibu, gut, 5” x 18” x 3.5.” It has three vessels nesting inside each other.
UNH 50th ANNIVERSARY ALUMNI SHOW
Portsmouth Music and Arts Center, Portsmouth, NH
May 1 - June 9, 2023
Opening reception Friday, May 5, 5 - 6;30 pm
Pictured here is “Letting Go…” wood fired ceramic and upcylced glass, 6.25” x 22.5” x 5.25.” I was honored to be one of the artists selected to represent the multitude of BFA graduates that have graduated from the University of New Hampshire. While there I studied Painting and Sculpture. in many ways I as coming full circle back to those roots.
UNCHARTED WATERS
Oeno Gallery, Bloomfield, Ontario, Canada
May 27 - June 18, 2023
Opening reception Saturday May 27, 2 - 4 pm with artist remarks at 3pm.
Uncharted waters means going where no map exists, journeying to places not yet explored. Contemporary artist Heather Hietala has spent decades pursuing her own bold artistic journey, seeking expression in her own voice. This exhibition brings together her latest works.
“Talisman” wood fired ceramic, steel, underglaze, paperclay, encaustic 34” x 72” x 4”
Summer Array Group Show 2022 video
Oeno Gallery , Bloomfield, Ontario, Canada
June 25 - September 5, 2022
If you are in Ontario this summer, I have new work at Oeno Gallery in their Summer Array Group Exhibition. This wall grouping titled "Talisman" and a group of my smaller meditation vessels are included in the exhibition. Oeno Gallery is a beautiful gallery with an amazing sculpture garden located in Bloomfield, Ontairo.
“LIfeline” woodfired ceramic, underglaze, upcycled glass, 7.25” x 6” x 20”
WNC Woodfired Ceramics Invitational
May 19 - June 8, 2022
Opening May 19th, 5 - 8:00pm,
Madison County Arts Council, 90 South Main Street, Marshall, NC
Western North Carolina is home to a rich history of woodfired ceramics and to some of the field’s top artists. This exhibition speaks to the diversity and strength of woodfiring in this region by bringing together established and emerging makers. The exhibit highlights the quality and current trends of what’s being made in the mountains today. This exhibition is held in conjunction with Envision: 2022 Woodfire Conference
Join me on April 19th to learn about my creative journey from textiles to clay.
Handweavers Guild of America Textiles & Tea Talk
Tuesday, April 19th, 4:00 - 5:00 pm EST.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/
Each week the Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. (HGA) hosts Textiles & Tea, a conversation with some of the most respected fiber artists in the field today. In the 45-minute discussion they focus on the artwork and the creative journey of their guest. They allow 15 minutes at the end of the conversation for questions from the audience. Textiles & Tea takes place every Tuesday at 4:00 pm (EST) and is broadcast via Zoom and Facebook Live. These broadcasts are free to view and open to all.
Fibre Art Take Two Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NhnOzdxrSY
https://www.facebook.com/fibreartstaketwo.
"Heather explores vessels, as a symbol of the journey of life, and uses them as a reoccurring theme in her work. Her clay pieces are hand-built, carved, inscribed and glazed. The ‘boat and paddle’ are metaphors for change and the words inscribed within the vessels represent memories, collective and personal. We delve deep with Heather as we explore her journey from fibre artist to sculptor and explore her creative process using sketchbooks and ceramics.”
Carolina Home + Garden Fall 2021 No. 64
No Need for a Compass: Sculptor leaves the direction of her nautical vessels to chance.
Carolina Home + Garden Magazine
A wonderful article by Kay West in the Fall 2021 Issue of Carolina Home + Garden Magazine. Photos by Jack Robert. Pick up a copy or click the link below to read more about my artistic journey.
Sally Forth 33” x 70” x 4” wood fired ceramic, steel, upcycled glass, underglaze, paperclay, encaustic
Where Do We Come From? 20” x 22” x .5” upcycled aluminum grounding wire, found aluminum cans, gut
Community Chords
Southeastern Center For Contemporary Art , Winston-Salem, NC
July 10 - September 5, 2021
Ancestral, 27” x 28” x 2”, wood fired ceramic. steel, paperclay, underglaze, encaustic
“Timeless Journey” 34” x 75” x 4” woodfired ceramic, upcycled glass, steel, paperclay, underglaze, encaustic
Art Fields
TRAX Visual Art Center, Lake City, SC 29560
April 23 - May 1, 2021
ArtFields Collective is an annual art event created to celebrate and promote art through a small town. The exhibits take place in galleries and outdoor, spaces, the art literally takes over the quaint town of Lake City, SC.
“Sounding: Ripple Effect” 33” x 38,” cotton, silk, paste,resist, hand painted, embroidery
Excellence in Fibers VI
New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts
December 1, 2020 - March 28, 2021
Fiber Art Network/Fiber Art Now and New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks! (NBAM) present Excellence in Fibers VI, an online exhibition sponsored by Fiber Optic Center. Exhibition jurors, Caroline Kipp, Curator of Contemporary Art, The Textile Museum, George Washington University, and Lisa L. Kriner, President of the Textile Society of America and Professor of Art at Berea College, have selected 52 outstanding works of art from over 1100 entries.usetts
“Sally Forth” 33” x 70” x 4” woodfired ceramic, upcycled glass, steel, paperclay, underglaze, encaustic
Winter Tonic
Oeno Gallery, Bloomfield, Ontario, Canada
December 12, 2020 - Februrary 28, 2021
The artists in this exhibition draw attention to the art of form. Using blocks of colour, expressive line, texture, light, juxtapositions of scale, and raw materiality like glass frit and bronze, each artist champions the formal vocabulary of their medium in a novel way.