Heather Friedli was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1982. She grew up half her childhood with her mom and grandmother in Los Angeles CA and Albuquerque NM, absorbing the colors, beauty and culture of the Southwest; then moved and lived her second half of childhood with her aunt, uncle and grandmother (yes, same one!) in Luxembourg LUX and Detroit MI. She graduated with a Fibers & Textiles degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 2005. In 2010 Heather through hiked the Appalachian Trail, the completion of which inspired her to create a series of work highlighting her family’s native Odawa and Mexican Heritages within impressionistic and dreamlike natural landscapes. She continues to explore the earth through Artventures and wilderness travels both with her family and solo. She currently lives and works in Saint Paul, Minnesota with her husband and two kids.
Statement
Heather Friedli is best known for her contemporary impressionist oil paintings depicting the land in which she lives and explores. Bold brush strokes and brilliant colors light up scenes of cloudscapes, water, and native flora. Many pieces are created in the context of her wilderness adventures; she often brings her paints outdoors to create work that shares with the viewer her understanding of and immersion in the landscape. With these colorful works she seeks the spiritual world through the lens of culture and lived intimacy of place. Her work is creative, soulful, bold, and powerful.
These paintings are her achievement in synthesizing personal love and submersion in the natural world through wilderness adventure travel, bringing the viewer into her sphere. Those experiences, being in the outdoors and seeing the beauty and power of nature are often represented in large scale works. She paints with a passion for the land, looking around and internalizing the colors and expressing them onto canvas. Working large scale is not only an expression of what she sees, but becomes a physical dance with her painting. The movement and rhythms in these works are her own unique vision of the land around her.
Awards
2nd Place People's Choice, US National Snow Sculpting Championship, Lake Geneva, WI 2023
2nd Place, "Best in Snow", Disney+ 2022
Third Place & Artist Choice, Minnesota State Snow Sculpting Competition, Saint Paul, MN 2022
People’s Choice Award, Saint Paul Winter Carnival Snow and Ice Park, Saint Paul, MN 2021
Best in Show and People’s Choice Award, Saint Paul Art Collective Juried Member Exhibition, Saint Paul, MN 2020
Best in Show, Indigenous Artist Exhibition, Landmark Gallery @ the Schmidt Artist Lofts, Saint Paul MN 2019
First Place Grand Champions, US National Snow Sculpting Championship, Lake Geneva, WI, 2019
First Place & Artist Choice, Minnesota State Snow Sculpting Competition, Saint Paul, MN, 2016
Third Place, Minnesota State Snow Sculpting Competition, Saint Paul, MN, 2014
Exhibitions
Beer Dabbler, Saint Paul, MN 2023
Mankato Winter Pride Snow Sculpture Park, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN 2021
Saint Paul Winter Carnival Snow and Ice Park, Saint Paul, MN 2021
Thru-Paddle of the Huron River, Michigan, August 2020.
Outdoor Painters of Minnesota, Capitol Exhibition, Mid January-July, Saint Paul, MN 2020.
Saint Paul Art Collective Winter Juried Member Show 2020, Awarded Best in Show and People’s Choice Award, Saint Paul, MN 2020
“One in the Land” Solo Exhibition, Frameworks Gallery, Saint Paul MN 2019-2020
“We Are Still Here” Indigenous Artist Exhibition, Landmark Gallery @ the Schmidt Artist Lofts, Saint Paul MN 2019
“Minnesota Cloudscapes” Solo Exhibition, Norseman Distillery, Minneapolis, MN 2019
”Salon Alla Prima” The Gallery at Zeller Studio, 2019.
“Minnesota Cloudscapes”, Solo Exhibition, Landmark Gallery @ the Schmidt Artist Lofts, 2019
US National Snow Sculpting Competition, February 2017, 2019 (First Place Grand Champions), 2020
“Other” : Hispanic/Latino Artists Exhibition, Landmark Gallery, Schmidt Artist Lofts, St. Paul, MN :: October 1-14th, 2018
“Women’s Voices," Sower Gallery Chaska MN :: April 2018
Women Of the Schmidt :: March 2018
Solo Exhibition Chanhassen, MN :: February 2016
St. Paul Winter Carnival “Snowpark at the Fair” Minnesota State Snow Sculpting Competition St. Paul, MN :: 2013, 2014 (3rd Place Winner), 2015, 2016(First Place), 2018, 2020, 2021.
Ely Winter Festival Snow Carver’s Symposium Ely, MN :: 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019.
Ely Greenstone Juried Art Exhibition Ely, MN :: 2011 & 2012
Green is the New Black! Fashion Show, Carbondale, CO :: 2009
Recycled Fashion Show Carbondale, CO :: 2008
Media
"Snow sisters: Team Kwe, the only all-women Indigenous snow sculpture team in the U.S." https://bit.ly/team_kwe_mpr_2023
"Snowed In" Women's Press, November 2022 https://bit.ly/Snowed_in_womens_press_2022
"Heather Friedli: Revealing Nature’s Allure" Native Lights, Minnesota Native News, November 2022 https://bit.ly/revealing_natures_allure
Interview on Fox9 "Good Day" Show by Shayne Wells, November 2022
"West End gallery thrives on energy of artists it gathers ’round" Anne Murphy, My Villager, September 2022 https://bit.ly/friedli_gallery_myvillager
"West 7th neighborhood of St Paul. Painter Heather Friedli, Schmidt Artist Lofts" The American Dream by the Vaz Harwood Team, August 2022 https://youtu.be/DJci2kcFNc0
"'Laugh At Winter': Snow Sculptures At Winter Carnival Create Sense Of Community" CBS Minnesota, January 2022 https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/winter-carnival-snow-sculptures/?fbclid=IwAR0_FUbpZWvW7VhPAG0qANiTg13NjRmLGnO2h2hqfMUdSEsSgUubTHK3NbI
"Meet Heather Friedli" Voyage Minnesota, April 2022 https://voyageminnesota.com/interview/meet-heather-friedli-of-saint-paul-mn/?fbclid=IwAR1sYARzAkuBJzZzu0q9XDrNE087jFec4pmVvgOlRBjuvtRFl0c2GuZv3Q4
"Downtown Mankato sculpture completed for Indigenous Art Festival" by Sofia Martinez, KEYC News Now, February 2022 https://bit.ly/mankato_indigenous_art_fest_2022
"Old Town Indigenous Art Festival continues Saturday" by Tim Krohn, The Free Press, February 2022 https://www.mankatofreepress.com/news/local_news/old-town-indigenous-art-festival-continues-saturday/article_02ddf858-85c9-11ec-b055-d3bfe2cac8e8.amp.html?fbclid=IwAR1ZrF0spxzOxEaMtjigiUCrMck5nCm-aUph-iXdu_bS3gzZ3EaZD8POF0Y
"Friedli channeling Indigenous roots through snow sculpting" by Casey Ek, Community Reporter, February 2022 https://communityreporter.org/friedli-channeling-indigenous-roots-through-snow-sculpting/
"New St. Paul art gallery opens Oct. 1" by Nina Raemont, Pioneer Press, September 2021 https://www.twincities.com/2021/09/26/new-st-paul-art-gallery-focuses-on-in-person-exhibitions-and-community-connections/
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