Interview
Lee Heekin
Lee Heekin was born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in both London, England and Connecticut, USA.
She received her Masters in Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, New York in 2008 and her Masters in Art Education from Manhattanville College in 2005. Lee graduated with a distinction in Fine Arts from Kenyon College in 2001, and has been making and teaching studio art for over 16 years.
Lee has exhibited work in galleries throughout the United States, including but not limited to New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Long Island, South Carolina, New Jersey and Colorado. She is currently represented by Walker Fine Art Gallery in Denver, is in a variety of private collections, and lives with her husband and two kids in Boulder, Colorado.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I was raised in both Greenwich, Connecticut, and London England, by my mother who was an art historian writing a book on art appreciation and education. I was dragged to every museum and gallery possible around the world. I suppose I grew up looking, appreciating and building a critical artistic vocabulary.
Before I knew it, I was pursuing my own art practice to attempt to organize the chaos around me. I found myself majoring in Art as an undergraduate, and then teaching art while pursuing my masters in painting and sculpture from Pratt Institute in New York. During my time in New York I was exposed to many talented artists, professors and peers that also lived and breathed art.”
What inspires you most?
“I am inspired by the mundane, memories, nature and daily life. I am inspired by materials and chaos and am constantly attempting to order that chaos with the organization of a grid.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I explore issues of confinement across a variety of subjects and diverse processes, using wood, wax, resin, oil and acrylic, and cyanotype. These materials help me explore the tension between accepting and defying boundaries in a tangible, tactile and interactive way. I also am constantly using a grid form to help order and make sense of the chaos around me.”
How would you describe your work?
“My work often consists of grids, boxes and rectangles. It is abstract and often uses a grid to help order the chaos in our world and minds. I use a variety of mediums, specifically wood and resin, to order my abstract paintings, drawings, paper, shapes and forms into a meaningful collection of lines or boxes - creating a new rhythmic whole.”
“I consider myself a process artist. So the most important thing is being disciplined about getting into my studio and starting. Any creative process is a dance between the inner and the outer; the unconscious and conscious mind; dreaming and doing; madness and method.”
Which artists influence you most?
“Agnes Martin, Eva Hesse, Tara Donovan, Sol Lewitt, Leonardo Drew and Rauschenberg.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“The artist's role is multifaceted. I believe that artists can bring fresh perspective and important critique and commentary on their communities and politics. I also believe that artists can simply provide communities with joy, interaction and inspiration.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
2008 “Porous Boundaries”, Pratt Studio Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
2002 “Lines Of Confinement”, Wallace performing Arts Center, Greenwich, CT.
2001 Senior Thesis Art show, Olin Art Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH.SELECTED SHOWS:
2018 “Away from the Wall”, National Art Club, Gramercy Park, NYC.
2017 “Human / Nature”, Walker Fine Art Gallery, Denver, CO.
2016 "All Juried show", Art Center, CO.
Website: www.leeheekin.com
Instagram: @leeheekinart
