Patterson holds an MFA from the University of California, Berkeley and currently lives and works in Colorado. She has been awarded several Public Art commissions including a 10’x23’ painting for the Westin Hotel and Convention Center at Denver International Airport, a 8’x16’ painting that is in the main entry of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, several outdoor large scale public murals in Boulder, CO, Denver, CO, Superior, CO, and Longmont, CO. While at UC Berkeley, Patterson received an art department grant from the Berkeley Art Museum. She has taught painting in colleges across the west, and participates in projects that include work for products from snowboard decks to wine labels.
Heather Patterson's work is represented in countless private, corporate, and municipal collections around the world, including the University of California, San Diego Medical Museum in San Diego, CA, Children’s Hospital Art Museum in Iowa City, IA, Union Denver, Denver, CO, the Hilton Waikiki, Waikiki, HI; the Bellagio in Las Vegas, NV; Peninsula Shanghai, Waitan; SONY San Diego, CA; the Children's Hospital in Denver, CO; Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, FL; Wells Fargo, Beverly Hills, CA; Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV; and Amber Bay, China, Charles Schwab in Denver, CO, Kaiser Permanente in Dublin, CA, Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, the Denver International Airport, as well as numerous others. Her exhibitions include solo shows at galleries across the country. She has also participated in exhibitions including Art Basel/Miami Beach Art Fair, ArtMRKT San Francisco, the New York Affordable Art Fair, Sonoma Museum of Visual Art, Arvada Center, and San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design, among others.
Currently, she is represented by Andrea Schwartz Gallery in San Francisco, CA, Susan Street Gallery in Solana Beach, CA, Walker Fine Art in Denver, CO, and KW Contemporary in Kennebunk, ME.
Statement
“The overview effect is a cognitive shift in awareness reported by astronauts while viewing Earth from outer space. In this shift from reality, they realize the fragility of Earth and the need to protect life on Earth becomes both obvious and imperative. In this experience, they see Earth as a tiny fragile ball of life “hanging in the void” shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. Some common aspects of it are a feeling of awe, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.” – Frank White, Space Philosopher
Spending a significant amount time absorbed in nature is essential to my foundation and that’s when I feel most grounded. Our climate and overall temperatures are shifting and the data fascinates me. I’ve been recording and studying daily temperature highs and lows as well as precipitation and storm patterns and comparing them to the previous years. The documentations of my findings surface in this body of work through my deep appreciation and respect for the nature world.
Focusing on mapping the natural landscape, my work is a documentation of the topography of our environment. I recreate geographic patterns that I find, and then layer them to make up a new series of abstracted terrain. This morphing of forms combines imagery depicting weather systems and changing weather patterns, topographic map lines, aerial views of the landscape, animal migration patterns, cellular structures, water movement patterns, lichen on boulders, rock and ice formations, and other natural phenomena that I find. I am interested in the constant recurrence of these patterns and find similarities in their elements. The intertwining of the geometric and organic forms becomes an important part of my process. Through layering several layers of paint, ink, pigment, and acrylic mediums, a sense of micro vs macro evolves. Some layers are poured and have a random and uncontrolled effect while others are more stenciled to create a mapped reaction to what is below the surface. The contrast and flow of these overlapping elements reflects my experience in the landscape we live in and the need to preserve our ever-changing climate.