This week we welcome visual artist Heidi Howard. Howard was born and raised in Queens and has been painting portraits since 2008. The structure of each painting is based on the color feelings, style and images inherent to the sitter.
Through this approach, each sitter is reflected not only in an outward likeness but also via the paint application. The occasion of painting a particular person is, for Howard, an occasion to create a new abstract space. Howard also encourages the viewer to engage with her subjects through close observation of the paintings and/or by googling the paintings’ titles on the Internet.
Her work ranges from paintings on canvas to large scale installations like Relative Fields in a Garden, a collaboration with her mother, sound artist Liz Phillips. Howard has exhibited at diverse venues across the world, including Queens Museum, Gaa Gallery in Provincetown, MA and Cologne, Germany, Et al. Gallery in San Francisco and many more. She has participated in numerous residencies including the Rauschenberg Residency (2020), Carrizozo AIR (2019), Palazzo Monti (2018) and Byrdcliffe (2014).
Howard is currently working on new public projects and portraits that explore the relationship between human bodies, flora and fauna, and digital and organic landscapes. If you would like to participate in one of her portrait projects or have a space that would be brightened by a large wall painting, feel free to contact her at heidiphillipshoward@gmail.com. See more of her work on her Instagram page and website.
