This solo exhibit by Heidi F Beal explores issues of fertility, turning inward to a center life force, and the safe haven we seek. Upon deeper introspection, it looks at the edges where death meets life, and loss meets bliss. Sometimes, these edges are blurred. The viewer is encouraged to find light through the darkness, and consider that our human notion of death is alternatively a higher level of life. Heidi F Beal is an interdisciplinary artist. She is best known for her encaustic photographic paintings; applying layers of hot molten beeswax with her photographic images. Her work is narrative and often references nude studies, architecture, transparent forms, and found objects. Introspective issues are explored, encouraging the viewer to be transformed to another place and time. She describes her work as a personal religion, crossing lines between art and her connection to Spirit. Beal says, “my art feels as though it is channeled through my body. As a conduit, I often feel as if Spirit is directing my hands. My mind then follows, reading the story my hands tell.”
Beal received her Bachelor of Arts from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1985) with additional graduate studies at California College of the Arts in Oakland, California (1985-1987). From 1989 to 2001 she owned and operated Wind & Sea Studio, designing and wholesaling a collection of giftware. In 2001, she began to focus her efforts full time on her fine art practice.
One of the founding artists here at Studios on the Park (2008-2012), Beal now lives and works in Bakersfield. She travels the countryside on creative, eclectic adventures, shows her work regularly, and is considered one of the top encaustic teachers in the country.
