Ellen Heck [Artista Plástica Americana]

Ellen Heck, 29, é uma artista norte americana nascida em Austin, Texas, que hoje vive na ensolarada Berkeley, na Califórnia. Seu primeiro contato com os desenhos aconteceu ainda muito pequena, no estúdio da mãe, que era desenhista.

"Tive sorte de crescer com ela sendo uma mentora, e ao mesmo tempo, uma inspiração. Quando eu era criança, montou uma mesa de ilustração pra mim ao lado da dela e me incentivou a pintar", conta.

Mulheres, em qualquer idade, são as personagens preferidas de Ellen, que explica que seus últimos trabalhos têm como inspiração o período Renascentista da arte, especialmente suas cores. No entanto, a série mais famosa da norte americana recebeu o nome de "Forty Fridas", e homenageia Frida Kahlo através de quarenta telas de figuras femininas vestidas como a pintora mexicana.

Ellen Heck studied printmaking and painting at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and is currently living and working as a fine art printmaker in California’s Bay Area. An artist-in-residence at Kala Art Institute and artist-member of the California Society of Printmakers, her work is currently being represented by Wally Workman Gallery in Austin, Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis, Armstrong Fine Arts in Chicago, and Kala Art Institute in Berkeley.

Exhibition History

2014
Connections, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX – solo show

Girls, Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN – two person show with Duncan Hannah
Altered States, ARC Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Out of the Woods, Guenzel Gallery, Fish Creek, WI
Artists at Work, Cleveland Museum of Art, Gallery One, Cleveland, OH

2013
New Prints/New Narratives, IPCNY, New York, NY
Summer Shorts, Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Floating World: The Influence of Japanese Printmaking, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Ketchum, ID
Selections by the Jealous Curator, Fig House, Los Angeles, CA
Pacific States Biennial, University of Hawaii, Hilo, HI– purchase award

2012
Mary Cassatt and the Feminine Ideal in 19th-Century Paris, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
9th National Print Exhibition, Turner Print Museum, Chico, CA – juror’s award
Variations, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX – solo show
New Year, New Artists, Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
On View, Kala Gallery, Berkeley, CA

2011
Rivers, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX
Contemporary Classics, Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Selections from Kala, Mills Building, San Francisco, CA

2010
Plus A Century, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX – solo show
+1 Print Invitational, Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Introductions, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA
Regionalism: New Art by North American Printmakers, DIVA Center, Eugene, OR

2009
The Evolution of Print, through the Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
Windy City Artists, Kayo Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
The Dimension of Dreams, Academy of Art University Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2008
Lithuanian Summer, Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, Chicago, IL – solo show
SAIC BFA Show, Chicago, IL
Augusta, American Theater Company, Chicago, IL – solo show

Forty Fridas is a portfolio of woodcut and drypoint prints depicting forty different women and girls dressed up as Frida Kahlo. Individually, each portrait focuses intimately on the task of pretending to be someone one isn’t – and in so doing, revealing oneself all the more. When viewed together, themes of identity and variation rise to the foreground.