ARTIST STATEMENT
My paintings use a technique I call “reductive finger painting”. Each canvas is loaded with color and then layer by layer, white paint (glazes, tints, and shades) is placed on top of the color to slowly edit the unneeded visual information. I blend every color and layer with my fingertips, using brushes only on rare occasions. My works on canvas capture a mood, a moment, a certain light as it hits the landscape – what the viewer sees beyond that is up to them. Residing solely on the interpretation of the viewer, my paintings are comprised of acrylic paint, ink, metal leaf and multiple layers of enamel; they glow from the inside, emitting light and energy from a now long-gone moment in time.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Growing up on Cape Cod in the 1980’s, Heather Milliman was aware of the beauty of the natural world; she was overwhelmed by the enormity of the ocean, shifting sands and constant mosaic of salt-drenched colors. When she was a young teenager, she discovered the beauty of the chemical darkroom and the power photography holds – the way it shifted my perception of the world was unequaled. Once photography trained my eye, it opened up the worlds of sculpture, ceramics, art from found materials and mixed media, moving through each medium yet always returning to photography and painting for grounding. After studying Studio Art with a focus on sculpture from found materials at The University of Vermont, Milliman went on to teach Art History and Photography before moving to Berkeley CA where she explored large-scale mixed media pieces, often having private gallery showings and “happenings” at her apartment. Now back in New England, she has refocused her artistic efforts in the studio, shifting between collage works on paper and mixed media on canvas.
© Heather Milliman