Fluidity: Paintings by Heather Hertel

Frame Shop Gallery
July 30, 2010 through October 9, 2010

A free public opening reception will be held
during Gallery Night, Friday, August 27, 2010
from 7–10 p.m.

Fluidity features new works by Heather Hertel, inspired by her painting experience and her recent involvement in collaborative art making projects. Hertel has spent countless hours pursuing avenues for bringing together different disciplines to create art. “I have tapped into the energy involved with group art making,” she notes. She has been actively collaborating with faculty and students from the music and dance departments at Slippery Rock University in multiple projects. In creating the paintings for this show, Hertel has explored mark-making as influenced by movement performances. By exploring gesture, Hertel seeks to navigate the bridge between premeditation and improvisation.

Her influences include Japanese and other Asian Art, especially Butoh, a postwar Japanese art movement grounded in movement, and typically involving playful and grotesque imagery and absurd environments. She is also inspired by the music of Miles Davis, and the works of 20th century artist Vassily Kandinsky. She continues to experiment with large-scale projects using minimalist materials and connecting her sensory experiences. Along with her large-scale works, she also uses the mediums of oil paint and acrylic paint on a smaller scale.

A graduate of the MFA program at Edinboro University, Heather Hertel is currently Assistant Professor of Painting at Slippery Rock University.