Hera Gallery

# Meettheartist Meet Susie Matthews  Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc. I declared my major in studio art while I was a sophomore at Brown only so I could get into the popular art classes, but then when it came to ‘really’ declare a major I realized I was in the right place already. Since that time my commitment to my art making has waned and waxed.  I have taken some detours in order to study wooden boatbuilding, to get my captain’s license, to focus on teaching art, and to have children. Since getting my MFA in ceramics from RISD fifteen years ago I have become increasingly focused on making sculpture. I ask myself often why I make art and I’m honestly not always certain I should, but I love making things and I love thinking about what things mean.   What do you want people to walk away with after experiencing your work? Questi...

#Meettheartist Meet Matthew Coté "I enjoy sparking discussion because, even though I may not be able to change someone’s mind of create empathy, a discussion lasts. A discussion reverberates from person to person and reveals hidden truths to people either a part of or observing the discussion." Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc. I was born and raised in Tacoma, WA, and I am currently residing in Erie, PA. Finding my way towards an interest in art was a long process of discovery. I was always interested in art when I was younger, but I never took it seriously until much later. Art took a serious hold on me during college. When it came to working with metal I first became interested while attending Tacoma Community College’s sculpture program. My professor handed me a MiG welder and basically said, “Have Fun.” I was fascinated by the welding process and enjoy...

#Meettheartist Meet Tamara English "My paintings may be considered portals to interior spaces, to inner realms beyond the physical, and outside the rational; referencing nature and different cultures as a way to expand our sense of reality." Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc. I have been an artist as long as I can remember. To me, each person has a reason for being here, a purpose, a life mission. Mine is being an artist, exploring themes of awakening to the presence of the divine, re-enchantment, and nature as a catalyst for discovering the sacred in life. I graduated from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon in 2004. Since then, my work has been exhibited extensively in the US and internationally, including at the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, and the US Embassy in Riga, Latvia. My work also appeared on Season Three of “Po...

#Meettheartist Meet Lee Tonks "I hope that my art will raise awareness and create dialogue between opposing views and hopefully one of those debates will change someones mind." Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do  you make art? Where did you study? Etc. Since the age of 15, when I came across a camera and started experimenting with photography, I have always had a camera with me and was always that person clicking away, at the age of 30, I came across the Julia Dean Photo workshops in Venice beach California and started taking fine art photography classes with the likes of Julia Dean, Douglas Kirkland and many other notable professors in the world of photography.  My first series "Behind closed doors" won an exhibition at LAGMA at the Municipal art gallery.  Since then I have exhibited and been published across the globe and won most of arts most prestigious art competitions. What do you w...

#Meettheartist Meet  Sonia  Peterson "I want my work to make the viewer question social norms and ideas, preconceptions and traditions. I want the viewer to ask new questions and seek new answers." An economist by education, I studied at Moscow State University of International affairs, most of my classmates are working for the Russian state department now. I have 4 citizenships (USA, Israel, Grenada, Russia), so that road was never open for me. I’ve always been more interested in commenting on politics, rather than being involved in them. I worked as a journalist before becoming an artist, that job took me all over the globe, I was immersed in a completely different world. So many people I met have a narrow view of life, and as they’ve gotten older, they’ve become more and more sure of the righteousness of their opinions. But one who doesn’t question will never learn! That is why children learn so well, they question everything, are not afraid of being wro...

# Meettheartist Meet   Eric van der Vlugt "By elevating the things we take for granted to an iconic, epic scale, make the otherwise unremarkable into things of wonder." Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc.   I was born in The Netherlands and grew up in Laren, a small village outside Amsterdam. The village was made famous by the “Larensche School” of landscape painters (like Jozef Israels and Anton Mauve) who flocked there because of the vibrant purple heather and silver birches. Even the streets were named after painters. So at a very early age I knew wanted to be an artist - how could it have gone differently? I studied traditional printmaking Atelier Mashuff in Brussels, Belgium, before coming to Philadelphia College of Art, where I graduated with a BFA in printmaking. I have taught at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), West Chester University...

#Meettheartist Meet Stephen Spiller Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc.  I’m convinced that life experiences, difficult or not, have an impact, certainly psychological  (indirect/unconscious) if not otherwise (direct/conscious), on one’s decision to make art. And so I’m certain that social, cultural and political issues dominate my work because, for example,  my sister was killed by a drunk driver, my brother-in-law committed suicide, family  members died in the holocaust, my children are adopted, and more.  I am self-educated, as an adolescent hardly being even aware of art which was not a family pursuit. Then, about age forty-five, I visited Kenya and became utterly enthralled with photographing animals, landscapes and people, shooting some fifty rolls of color film in a few  days! For years thereafter I worked at street photography,...

#Meettheartist Meet Sally Chapman Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc. Sally Chapman is a photographer living in Lowell, MA. She earned a BFA in ceramics and photography from Michigan State University. For over twenty years she worked as a ceramic artist in Colorado showing extensively in New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.  Moving to California and Massachusetts her attention went to spiritual pursuits seeing that the desire to create art is the same as the desire for spirit.  The magic of capturing images at night inspired her to begin creating artwork again with the camera. Her photographic subjects are often of the urban landscape and neighborhoods. Recently she has been shown in exhibits at the Cambridge Art Association, Springfield Art Association in Springfield, IL, Griffin Museum in Winchester, MA, Barrett Art Center in Poughkeepsie, NY, ...

# meettheartist Meet Neville Barbour "I want people to appreciate the syncretic nature of humanity." Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc.   I grew up in two separate worlds. Feeling accepted and rejected by both, I wouldn’t change the experience for the world.  Art has been the only steadfast thing that I’ve held onto throughout my life. In some ways, my commitment to art has taught me how to commit to others.  I studied at the Academy of Art in San Francisco.  What do you want people to walk away with after experiencing your work? I want people to appreciate the syncretic nature of humanity.    What influences your work? Why? History and religion influences a lot of my work. I’m very interested in what “different” people do under similar circumstances. I think there’s more commonality than people would l...

#meettheartist Meet C.B. Murphy "I am interested in mystery. I don’t like propaganda." Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc. I’ve always been creative as far back as I remember. At first I thought I wanted to make films, but then gave that up.  I didn’t get serious about painting though until later in my life. Once I started it has only grown in my passion for it. I also write fiction and it seems to support my painting, going back and forth from words to images. What do you want people to walk away with after experiencing your work? I am interested in mystery. I don’t like propaganda. I like to make things that that have many interpretations, even if they are opposites. I think encountering art that is confusing is a positive thing. I do like using representational imagery in ways inspired by circus posters and outsider art generally. I do also li...

#MeettheArtist Meet Jenny E. Balisle "Fascinated by alternative realities, disorientation, and flight, I combine disparate experiences to create new narratives, perspectives, and theories. " 1. Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc. My education consists of a B.A. in Art and Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a M.F.A. from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco.  Selected exhibition highlights include the de Young Museum Artist-in-Residence, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Chicago Cultural Center, Korean Cultural Center, Harvard University, Farmington Museum, Museu Brasileiro Sao Paulo, and Shanghai Oil Painting & Sculpture Institute Art Museum. Have been fortunate to have my artworks featured in  The Huffington Post ,  WOMENCINEMAKERS ,  A5 Magazine ,  ZYZZYVA ,  The Drum Literary...

#Meettheartist Meet  Armando Zirakzadeh " When people view my work, I want to reveal myself to them.     First, I want them to begin to understand me, and then I hope they can find a relationship between their lives and mine."     Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc.   My name is Armando Zirakzadeh.     I was born in Tehran, Iran in 1955 to an Iranian father and a Guatemalan mother. My family moved to Boulder, Colorado when I was 6 months old; I became a citizen at the age of 9. I have been married since 1979 and have two children. I studied art at Colorado State University, where I received my BFA in printmaking in 1981.  In 1984 I started Master Screen Art Silkscreening, which I ran until 1990, when I switched to teaching art for a career.  I taught art from 1990-2012 in the Boulder Valley School District, an...