Mary Heebner
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Bio: Mary Heebner earned her BFA in art and literature from the College of Creative Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara (1973), where she studied with Paul Wonner, Charles Garabedian, Max Schott and Gerald Haggerty, followed by a MFA in 1977 with mentor, artist William Dole. In addition to her fine art practice and exhibitions in collage, painting and drawing, Heebner founded Simplemente Maria Press in 1995. The press unites place-based inspirations and images with studio practice, print and paper-making to create hand-crafted books that couple her visual art and writing in a variety of formats. Her checklist also includes several collaborative projects with the work of William Shakespeare, Pablo Neruda, Alastair Reid, Sienna Craig, Clayton Eshleman, Michael Hannon, and Stephen Kessler. As of 2019 Simplemente Maria Press has published 17 editioned fine art books. Heebner's work is held in numerous collections including the John Paul Getty Research Institute, The National Gallery of Art, The British Museum, Fundación Neruda, San Francisco and Santa Barbara Museums of Art, The Universities of California, The US Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, University of Michigan, Wesleyan University, Dartmouth College, and Columbia University.
Statement: Acknowledging the power of ancient presences and landscapes is integral to the creation of my paintings, collages, handmade paper, photography, and fine art books. Making books allows me to pair text with imagery and employ various aspects of papermaking.
Fragments, both literal and metaphoric, are also vital to my process. Through a parsing out and weaving together of fragments—of histories, stories, objects—we fashion narratives that are personal, collective, cultural, mythic. My practice draws on travels throughout the world and is deeply grounded in a sense of place, the distinct mythologies, geology, archeology, language, and experiences therein. I seek ways to re-create the warmth and wonder the earth holds. The object of love is to know beauty. My practice aims toward that desire to know beauty.
Interpretations of landforms, maps, water forms, as well as images from antiquity with human form are my sources for creating sensually abstract compositions: artists’ books in which both form and content are equally important.
Statement: Acknowledging the power of ancient presences and landscapes is integral to the creation of my paintings, collages, handmade paper, photography, and fine art books. Making books allows me to pair text with imagery and employ various aspects of papermaking.
Fragments, both literal and metaphoric, are also vital to my process. Through a parsing out and weaving together of fragments—of histories, stories, objects—we fashion narratives that are personal, collective, cultural, mythic. My practice draws on travels throughout the world and is deeply grounded in a sense of place, the distinct mythologies, geology, archeology, language, and experiences therein. I seek ways to re-create the warmth and wonder the earth holds. The object of love is to know beauty. My practice aims toward that desire to know beauty.
Interpretations of landforms, maps, water forms, as well as images from antiquity with human form are my sources for creating sensually abstract compositions: artists’ books in which both form and content are equally important.