THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 17, 1994 TAG: 9407140177
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 40 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Nancy McWilliams
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
Australia native Pat Holburd Heidenheimer always wanted to be an artist, and after decades of getting sidetracked by family and career, her dream has come true.
Now living in Kill Devil Hills, Heidenheimer presents her first one-woman show, called ``Relevant Greek Myths,'' throughout July at Glenn Eure's Ghost Fleet Gallery in Nags Head. It's appropriate that Heidenheimer's first public offering is at Eure's gallery. He is the artist who introduced printmaking to her.
After earning a liberal arts degree and a master's in education at Sydney University, Heidenheimer taught, then traveled around Europe before taking in 1959 what she thought would be a slight detour to the United States.
``I've been here ever since,'' she said. She raised two children in Florida, earned her doctorate in developmental psychology in St. Louis, then taught at Washington University for 15 years. She moved here in 1988, after years of vacationing in the area.
``In spite of my total academic background, I still wanted to be an artist,'' she said. Having tried drawing as a child, Heidenheimer found she didn't like drawing specific objects. The emotional impact of art hit her hard when she first saw the works of Clay and Cezanne.
``That stimulated my interest,'' she said. ``I've never had much training in art. It's all been hit and miss.'
While she had painted a little, she made a direct hit in printmaking. After taking a printmaking course, she hasn't given another thought to painting.
``There's such enormous potential for texture and the wonderful accident of color you might achieve,'' Heidenheimer exclaimed over the glories of creating collagraphs (prints made from collages).
Ever since she traveled around England in her youth, Heidenheimer has had artistic concepts buzzing in her head.
``I begin with an idea,'' she said. Often, it is Greek mythology that inspires her. ``Greek myths speak closely to my ideas and experience.''
She draws how she wants the finished piece to look, then begins searching for the proper way to achieve it. Far from being realistic, Heidenheimer uses form, shape and rhythm to communicate her ideas.
``Anything can suggest a shape,'' Heidenheimer said. ``I recognize what I want.''
She might spot Icarus in an upside down photograph. Then, she is on to gathering materials, often from her kitchen cupboards. Coffee grounds, frayed burlap, tea leaves, cheesecloth and tin foil have found their way into Heidenheimer's collages.
``Different kinds of rhythms come from different materials,'' she said.
A collage is created on matboard, then a plate is made, which ``can be quite arduous labor,'' Heidenheimer said. Observing her in her home studio, complete with its own press, it's obvious she loves the entire process.
Finding suitable colors and printing from the plate are the fun and hazardous side of making prints, Heidenheimer said.
``You never know till you pull the paper off the press if you've wasted a day or maybe a month. There's no knowing how the inks are going to react. There's a real excitement in doing that.''
Heidenheimer's show at the Ghost Fleet Gallery has definitely drawn a response from viewers, gallery manager Pat Eure said. Calling the show ``a bit more obscure'' than most, Cure said it's obvious ``this visual imagery comes out of an academic mind.''
The colors attract the audience to Heidenheimer's work, then the work subtly invites intensive study. ``People can relate as intricately as they choose to,'' Eure said. ``Viewers are more interested in mythology than I thought.''
Heidenheimer hopes that everyone will view the Hubris (human pride) series as she intended, tongue in cheek.
``People take it far too seriously, and I'm just poking fun at human arrogance,'' she said. ``Imagine Icarus taking on the sun.''
Calling her work ``conceptual realism,'' Heidenheimer said her images can communicate meaning, even though they are not representational at all. ``Everything I do comes first from an idea.''
Taking artistic liberties and merging them with her background in psychology, Heidenheimer comes up with the wonderful concept of giving Icarus a second chance.
``Mountaintop Deity'' expresses the significant loss of man's tie to the natural world, and her series on Greek gods and goddesses is intriguing.
This is admittedly one artist who is not trying to present ``just a pretty picture.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Pat Holburd Heidenheimer is presenting her first one-woman show
throughout July at Glenn Eure's Ghost Fleet Gallery in Nags Head.
by CNB