31 Women – March 12th: Ellen Heck
Girl with a Blivet Pendant Wearing a Möbius Strip as a Hat, 2016
Woodcut, drypoint, and watercolor on Somerset Velvet paper
An Interview with Ellen Heck
MKM: Tell me about your childhood, where did you grow up? Were you always creative?
EH: My family moved often until I was 10, but then I grew up in Austin, Texas. There are several artists in my family, and I always had access to a wide range of materials. I would often use art as a tool for meeting people in a new school.
MKM: Why did you pursue art?
EH: I have always enjoyed the process. If art had not developed into a career, I would still be making things.
MKM: Where did you study?
EH: Brown and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
MKM: Who were your memorable teachers?
EH: My mother is a commercial artist and my most influential teacher/enabler. I was able to work freelance for her for several years in art school and at the beginning of my professional life. This allowed me to work at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley during the day and make more reliable money doing graphic design at night.
MKM: When you’re creating what’s your daily routine? Rituals, patterns?
EH: There are many steps involved in my printmaking practice. Usually, I am working on several prints at a time, each at different stages of completion. In this past year, I’ve been working on oil paintings with multiple layers of glazing, so this has been the case with the paintings as well.
MKM: How has your practice changed over time?
EH: My work changes most significantly when life presents a certain constraint, or I have access to new materials. But generally, I try to keep my practice balanced carefully between intentional conceptual planning and an openness to chance.
MKM: Do you focus on a specific medium or combination of mediums?
EH: For the past decade, I have been predominantly a printmaker, but in the past year, I’ve been painting much more.
MKM: What themes do you pursue?
I am interested in making work that shares a sense of wonder. I also like to use a body of work as a way of exploring an abstract question or concept. Generally, this gives rise to more questions, which become the foundation for the next body of work.
MKM: What is your most important tool? Is there something you can’t live without in your studio?
EH: I have an agate burnisher that works as an eraser of drypoint on a copper plate. If you make a scratch into the copper with a drypoint needle and decide that it is too deep, or misspaced, this burnisher can remove it to any degree without leaving a gray shadow on the print. It allows me to work deep into a plate and then remove the majority of those lines.
MKM: Is there an artwork you are most proud of?
EH: There have been a few pieces that I love because they were the origins of a discovery.
MKM: What has been a seminal experience for you?
EH: Working at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley for nearly seven years was the foundation and formation of my career. I was part of a critique group of artists who became mentors and close friends. They are role models and demonstrate a variety of ways that one can sustain an art practice.
MKM: What art do you most identify with?
EH: I like to look at all types of art, but I find myself most frequently connecting with work that has some aspect of representation or a focus on harmony.
MKM: What inspires you? Other artists, other women from history, your process, or a theme?
EH: I have been deeply inspired by the work of Mary Cassatt, Dieter Roth and David Hockney. I also frequently get ideas by reading and teaching.
MKM: Do you have a sense of connection to a particular woman artist from art history?
EH: Mary Cassatt
MKM: Is there a specific work from Mary Cassatt that you find interesting?
EH: The set of 10 color prints are my favorite works by Cassatt and my favorite works of printmaking in art history. My first gallery solo show was based on this series.
MKM: Who are your female role models from history or present day?
EH: Mary Cassatt, Audrey Niffenegger, Maria Popova
MKM: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
EH: Keep making work. Make more work. Persist.
MKM: What is your dream project? What can we expect from you in the next year?
EH: I’ll begin the year at the printing press if all goes well!
Ellen Heck is represented by Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX; Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA; Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN; Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA and Baker Schorr Fine Art, Midland, TX.