One to Watch
Heather Goodwind
Heather Goodwind is an emerging artist who currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon. She graduated from Portland State University with a BA in Sculpture in 1996, and later co-founded Gallery 214 in Portland’s Old Town District. After moving to Brooklyn a year later, she began experimenting with small format drawings, of which now number over 600 works. She later lived in Argentina for 10 years, and then spent a year abroad in China, where she studied calligraphy and watercolor with local and traditional artists.
Heather is entranced by the invisible things in life; thoughts and emotions inspire the shapes and figures that dance across the surface of her drawings. Her drawings represent a constant outpouring of singular impressions: clearly isolated images that capture flashes of emotion, changes in perception, or moments of recognition. She has exhibited extensively throughout the US, and most recently her drawings have been made into prints for the new Pearl District Marriott Residence Inn, Portland.
What are the major themes you pursue in your work?
I try to give visible form to the emotional aspects of experience. I’m fascinated by the psychological subtext of daily situations and particularly the interactions between humans and their environment. The images I create come from direct personal experience, exploration of archetypes and a constant desire to reassess what it is I think I know. Carl R. Rogers said that “what is most personal is most universal” and I have found this to be especially true when it comes to making and appreciating art.
What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
About five years ago a friend in PR told me that “No, actually, you DO have to participate in the world of social media”. And she was right.
Prefer to work with music or in silence?
I work in silence these days. If there’s music playing I get carried away listening and lose the thread I’m following in my own work.
If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?
Motherwell’s Pancho Villa Dead And Alive. When I lived in New York I used to visit it regularly, along with Keifer’s Bohemia Lies By The Sea. I miss both of those works so much.
Who are your favorite writers?
Right now I’m reading a book by Steven Pinker and I’m really impressed with his style but my all time favorite authors are Tolstoy, Rushdie, and García Márquez.
