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Janaury Issue 2008
Artists' Guild of Spartanburg in Spartanburg, SC, Features Works by Steven Heeren
The Artists' Guild of Spartanburg will present the exhibit New Visions of the Luminist Landscape, featuring works by Steven Heeren. The exhibit will be on view at the Guild Gallery at Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, SC, from Jan. 3 - 31, 2008.
The works in the exhibit are landscape oils of the Lowcountry, Piedmont and Rocky Mountains. Heeren, who only began painting 10 years ago, says of his work, "In my landscapes, I try to distill those unexpected moments when nature's light comes together in luminous images. I strive for paintings that speak in a quiet but dramatic way of the beauty that all of us can observe if we look for it."
While Heeren did not study luminism, once he had begun to paint work that captures the play of light over the sky and land, using a subtly full palette of colors, he discovered that his work was in the luminist tradition. "A great deal of art history has occurred since that style of art was new, and I have been influenced by all of the styles that have transpired," Heeren says.
The artist came to Spartanburg from the Midwest in 1988 as the president of a sales company. It was only after leaving that position that he decided to pursue his latent interest in painting. Beginning in acrylics, he soon moved on to oils, preferring the texture and techniques that can be achieved in that medium. He has considered himself a full-time artist since 2006.
"Having no instruction or training of any kind, I read and studied everything I could find," Heeren says, adding that he focused on landscape artists such as Richard Schmid, Michael Stack and Joseph McGurl before studying with Linda Cancel, a collaboration which he credits with improving his work greatly.
Heeren, who grew up in the flatlands and farmlands of the Illinois prairie, says the expansive horizons and skies of the Midwest turned him into a keen observer of nature. "Little did I know that observing nature's subtleties would lead to its expression in oil painting. Coming to this passion late, time has coalesced the influences of my life into a love of landscape and sky I'm drawn to share with the viewer of my paintings," Herren says.
The artist remembers the day that he carried
some of his work into Carolina Gallery in Spartanburg as the day
that affirmed his decision to devote himself to painting. Heeren
is now represented by Carolina Gallery, and he has had work selected
for the Hub City Juried Art Competition and the Artists'
Guild of Spartanburg Juried Exhibition, at which he was awarded
the Southeastern Printing Award of Merit.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery
listings or call Laura Baker Pinkley at 864/764-9468.
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2008 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2008 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.