Hollis Heichemer - Artists

(b. 1963)

Of her work Heichemer says, “I’m interested in the moment that something shifts. The sudden disruptions, when we’ve moved from one second to the next but in that instant something inexplicable has happened. We’ve seen something; felt something; our imagination has been sparked; a perspective has been altered; and we’ve changed.” Indeed, Heichemer’s richly-colored paintings exude an intense sense of motion, as delicate lines meld with thick brushstrokes and coalesce into wide washes of color. The layering of color in her work, in particular the deep greens and blues, add a tactility that suggests ongoing action and formation just beneath the surface plane in which this one moment has been caught.

Heichemer draws inspiration from her morning runs through the wooded areas around her home in New Hampshire. Letting her mind clear and wonder, she often feels compelled to stop to take in the beauty of the environs or to catch a fleeting thought or imagining. These quiet, uninterrupted moments become the basis of her paintings and drawings—which take further shape over time in her studio—and also provide the context for the exhibition title.

While the vivid coloring of Heichemer’s paintings often suggest an ebullient tone, she points out that change can be in instances beautiful but also tragic. A closer inspection of her work through time indeed reveals moments of darkness; the evanescent snapshots of the world around her convey an array of emotions from the sadness of solitude to joyous contentment. In capturing the multi-faceted relationship between the individual and nature, Heichemer’s works harken back to the tradition of the Romantic sublime.

Hollis Heichemer was born in Binghamton, New York in 1963 and now currently lives and works between Philadelphia, PA and New Hampshire. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Gross McCleaf Gallery and Rosenfeld Gallery in Philadelphia and J. Cacciola Gallery in New York. She’s participated in a wide range of group exhibitions, including most recently at Stanek Gallery in Philadelphia and Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco. She received her BS from the Ohio University and her MA at Seton Hall University.