HANCOCK -- Finlandia Art Gallery invites the public to a free online Finnposium with artist Heather Allen Hietala at 4 p.m. (ET) Tuesday, June 18 -- "Heather Hietala: Reconnecting to my Finnish Roots." Please join Finnish American artist Heather Allen Hietala in conversation with Finlandia Art Gallery Director Carrie Vander Veen as they discuss Heather's Finnish heritage and its impact on her creative process.
This Finnposium is free and open to the public. To register click here.
Heather’s exhibition Evolution is on display at the Finlandia Art Gallery in the Finnish American Heritage Center, Hancock, through this Wednesday, June 5.
Heather grew up in rural New Hampshire at the end of a half mile dirt road in the foothills of the White Mountains, and her experiences growing up so close to nature and the cyclical nature of the seasons significantly influenced her life and work. Six months of winter with its quiet and meditative presence, the first signs of spring with every shade of green and the return of birdsong leading into the glorious months of summer and finally transforming into the vibrant oranges and yellows of autumn still resonate within her artwork today.
"I am an innovator across many mediums; including wood and salt-fired ceramics, cloth, wire, paper, gut and natural materials from my orchard garden," Heather says.
Combining traditional textile art techniques with painting, Heather creates pieces that explore the sense of space. Interior architecture has been the subject for many of her colorful textiles, including stairways, doors, landings and windows.
"Stairways alluded to a journey, becoming metaphors for expressing various paths, transitions, and thresholds within life’s experiences," she notes. "The negative spaces and shadows enter into the dialogue, extending the pieces and representing the unsaid between individuals or the spiritual world. I am interested in duality and the idea of two (or more) things that are intrinsically bound together, made by the same hand."
Heather’s work has been exhibited internationally and she has taught and lectured throughout the US, Canada, Japan, Nepal and Thailand. She has published numerous articles on textiles, textile artists and creative journaling. Her work is in numerous public and private collections including the Racine Art Museum, Asheville Art Museum, and Greg Museum of Art and Design among others. Momentum Gallery, Asheville, NC, and Oeno Gallery, Bloomfield, Ontario, represent her work.
For more about Heather and her work, click here.
