Hera Gallery

#MeetHeraArtistElizabethLind      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 drawn to the human figure, especially women, and their environments, either real or imagined. I enjoy a sensual surrealism in my work and utilize meaningful objects to create a visual poetry.  What do you want people to walk away with after experiencing your work? Literature on natural phenomenon, as well as the literary works of Goethe and Rilke are always inspiring, intertwining with the symbolism of the sea, branches, the sky, birds, and most especially sirens. What influences your work? Why? My background includes a deep love of the ocean, an education from RISD, the ownership of a bronze foundry, and interacting with many students who will always be in my heart. I'm originally from Seattle but have adopted Rhode Island as my home, having discovered this ...

#Meettheartist Meet Bianca, owner and designer of Clothes Horse Clothing who will be sharing some of her designs at our Fourth Annual Art to Table Benefit on January 24, 2020 at the Narragansett Towers. Tell us a little about you….  I’ve been designing since I was a child. Growing up, my mom provided me with all types of materials to keep me busy. She was an artist, and naturally I gravitated towards imaginative uses of my free time. I started by making myself hair accessories from recyclables and hot glue- things that I had lying around. In college, I began to transform these materials into larger, more sculptural pieces that would eventually be used in runway shows and editorial shoots. Teaching myself how to sew became the next challenge- watching youtube videos and ruining yard after yard of found fabrics. I earned a BFA in ceramics and art education while teaching myself the craft, and later supplemented my self-taught knowledge with the Mas...

#MeettheArtist Meet Rene Reyes, sustainable fashion designer showing their skirt collection paired with their jacket collection at Hera Gallery's fourth annual Art to Table Benefit at the Narraganset Towers on January 24, 2020.   Tell us a little about you….   I grew up spending a lot of my free time hanging out in my mother’s sewing studio. I’m gladly  carrying on my mothers family trade in working with garments. The Arts are my life blood and sustainable fashion is the heart. How/When did you become interested in sustainable fashion?  I became interested in sustainable fashion after high school when I started modifying my jackets using other garments to alter the cut or texture. Using thrifted garments as raw material made sense, I progressively got pulled into the rabbit hole of fashion industry history and the benefits of using discarded fabrics. What was the first sustainable piece of fashion that you made?  My first sustainable fashion ...

#Meettheartist          Meet fashion  designer Brianna Moon. Brianna will be sharing her one of kind sustainable looks from her Fall/Winter Collection at The Fourth annual Art to Table Benefit for Hera Gallery January 24 at the Narragansett Towers.      Tell us a little about you….  If you were to ask my family when I started making clothes, they all would say the same thing. At the age of 3, I began cutting up and tying bandanas together to make new clothes for my dolls. As an only child, I would accompany my grandmother to the dry cleaners that she previously owned with my grandfather when he was alive, then continued to work at until she was 95. My grandmother and her sisters played an integral role in my love of clothing. Perhaps it was how even at an elderly age these strong Italian women never stopped dressing for themselves. They would sit at my aunts kitchen table drinking coffee and eating cake ...

#MeetHeraArtistBarbaraPagh 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 didn’t have much art background before college though I always liked to make things. I didn’t seriously consider art until my sophomore year at Mount Holyoke College. I took a sculpture class with Leonard DeLonga and his teaching was an inspiration and made me see the world in a new way. I also studied printmaking with JoEllen Knight, became hooked on the process and subsequently pursued printmaking in graduate school at NYU.  What do you want people to walk away with after experiencing your work? Most of my prints are nature based, though they are abstracted. I want people to look at the natural world more closely after seeing my work. I also have worked to create larger scale installations of handmade paper based on megalithic structures. With these installations I want the viewer to have an experien...

#MeetHeraartistJohnKotula  "I have been drawing continuously, at times obsessively, for more than fifty years."   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 thought of myself as an artist since third grade when my classmates started asking me to draw things for them.  For a while, maybe it was only a week, I spent every recess drawing pages of airplanes, aircraft carriers, and battleships.  My friends would then play war by covering the drawings all over with arching lines that indicated a shot had been fired and scribbles that showed a hit.  I missed getting to fight the battles myself, especially making the sound effects, but I loved being recognized for drawing the best armaments. I have been drawing continuously, at times obsessively, for more than fifty years.  My choice of materials comes and goes and c...