Heather Sheehan

{{Infobox artist

| name = Heather Sheehan

| image = Heather Sheehan Self-Portrait with an Ear to the Past 2016.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Self-portrait 2016, With an Ear to the Past (black and white photography)

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1961|12|9}}

| birth_place = Mount Vernon, New York, United States

| death_date =

| death_place =

| field = Installation, Performance, Black and White Photography, Video art, Sculpture

| training =

| movement = Performance art Video art

| works =

| patrons =

| influenced by =

| influenced =

| awards =

| spouse = Ivo Ringe

| website = {{URL|https://heathersheehan.com}}

}}

Heather Sheehan (born December 9, 1961) is an American artist who lives and works in Cologne, Germany. In her work, she combines elements of sculpture, installation, performance, video art and black and white photography. She frequently uses textiles in her works. Other components of her compositions are short stories on the respective themes and poetry. Her work focuses on the development and presentation of individual mythologies.

Life and work

Sheehan studied at the Parsons School of Design and the New School of Social Research in New York.{{cite book |publisher=Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum |title=Unter der Haut (Katalog) |page=133 |year=2001 |language=german}} From 1981 to 1983, she studied textile science and women's tailoring at the Fashion Institute of Technology at the State University of New York. She graduated in 1983 with the [[Associate degree#Americas|Associate Degree of

Applied Science (AAS)]].{{cite web |first=Heather |last=Sheehan |url=https://www.heathersheehan.com/about/cv |title=About Heather Sheehan: CV |access-date=2024-07-18}} Until 1994, she lived and worked in New York City, after which she emigrated to Cologne.

The term Individual Mythology, originally coined by Harald Szeemann on the occasion of the documenta 5, denotes a mode in which artists create works from their subjective inner perception as these relate, in their mythological qualities, to recurring events in human life, such as birth, death, etc.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} It follows that these art installations have a puzzling effect on the viewer. The ambiguity of the presented impulses invites reflection by, and resonance within, the viewers themselves. Sheehan's main interest lies in the narrative interweaving of complex interrelationships. Through her use of varied media, she achieves a multi-dimensional world of experience in which everything relates to the given locations and her studies of them.

For the exhibition alighting (2015), for example, Sheehan produced a video entitled alighting on the river, which mirrors the two main themes in the history of the city of Augsburg, namely the textile manufacturing and the river Lech, which flows through Augsburg. "A woman in a plain dress walks barefoot, each step slow and deliberate, along a river bank. She wears a white kerchief and puts down under a willow, the coarse linen sack and black stone which she carried in her arms like a child or her own soul. Then, she turns her back to the viewer of the black-and-white video and steps into the water which soon reaches her thighs. Cut. The next scene shows nothing but water, the rushing river. The End." (in German: Eine Frau in einem schlichten Kleid geht barfuß, jeder Schritt langsam und tastend, an einem Flussufer entlang. Sie trägt ein weißes Kopftuch und legt unter einer Weide den Sack aus grobem Leinen und den schwarzen Stein ab, den sie wie ein Kind oder ihre Seele in den Armen trug. Dann dreht sie dem Betrachter des in Schwarz-Weiß gedrehten Videos den Rücken zu und schreitet ins Wasser, das ihr bald bis zu den Oberschenkeln reicht. Schnitt. Die nächste Einstellung zeigt nichts als Wasser, den dahinströmenden Fluss. Ende.){{cite web |title=Mit Performance, Installation, Fotografie und Zeichnung gestaltet die amerikanische Bildhauerin Heather Sheehan die Ausstellung 'alighting' im Kunstverein Augsburg |work=a3kultur.de |url=http://a3kultur.de/nachrichten/kreislauf-des-lebens |date=19 August 2015 |access-date=8 March 2017 |language=german}}

The exhibition was opened by a performance in which Sheehan – encased in a hessian sack – crawls into the room to gradually free herself from this cover. The main part of the exhibition was conceived around self-staged, photographic, self-portrait in black and white photography, in which she deals physically with themes such as birth, stillbirth, loss, healing and transformation.

For the exhibition Soulfood (2003) at the Fuhrwerkswaage in Cologne, she installed the ingredients for 2000 kg of rice pudding in triangular formation: two open cubes together with one hanging sack; ingredients not only for a comfort food for children and adults, but essential to basic nutrition of large portions of the world's population: "[...] she combines the purism of the empty, utilitarian space with the modern concept of minimalism to create the aura of a still life of motherly care." (in German: [...] sie verbindet den Purismus des ausgeräumten Nutzraumes mit dem Minimalismus moderner Positionen zur Aura eines Stillebens mütterlicher Fürsorge.){{citation |editor-surname1= Kunstraum Fuhrwerkswaage |title=Soulfood |publication-place=Köln |isbn=978-3930636518 |date=2003 |language=german}}

For Visitors and other Beings (2011) in Siegburg, Germany, Sheehan created beings - in varying sizes, from giants over two meters high, to tiny forms of existence which one instinctively wants to protect. Although these creatures are made of textiles and seem like cuddly animals, on closer inspection they emerge rather as creepy and disturbingly alien. This impression is reinforced by the accompanying photographs: "For this the artist took to the razor, partly removed the plush from the resin faces and partly formed it into hairstyles and eyebrows. Greatly enlarged, these panels are suggestive in their own way: The human figure seems to emerge from the plush toy. The observer becomes witness to a moulting process." (in German: Hierfür hat die Künstlerin zum Rasierer gegriffen und den Plüschstoff auf den Kunstharzgesichtern teilweise entfernt, teilweise zu Frisur und Augenbrauen geformt. In starker Vergrößerung wirken diese Tafeln auf ihre Weise suggestiv: Die menschliche Gestalt scheint aus der Plüschpuppe hervorzubrechen. Der Betrachter wird zum Zeugen eines Häutungsprozessses.){{cite web |title=Ausstellung - Schön wie ein alter Elefant |work=Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger |url=http://www.ksta.de/ausstellung-schoen-wie-ein-alter-elefant-12196346 |access-date=8 March 2017 |first=Jürgen |last=Röhrig |date=6 April 2011 |language=german}}

For Under the Skin (2001), Sheehan conceived a kind of "breeding station" for the Lehmbruck Museum, in which entities, mutually isolated in transparent plastic, were nourished by tubes and investigated for apparently scientific purposes. They appeared soft and slimy, not entirely finished, or still in the process of maturing. Additionally, she created a video entitled Single Opening, in which she appeared as Professor Dr. Nurse and explained that the creatures are the result of the recreation of a monotreme, which she calls Maboutae. It possesses one great economic advantage: it has only one body opening and produces a special milk. "She sarcastically caricatures them as an absurd research focus and our amateurish ideas about the possibility of genetic engineering and its economic advantages." (in German: Sarkastisch karikiert sie damit abseitige Forschungsschwerpunkte und unsere laienhaften Vorstellungen von den Möglichkeit der Gentechnik und deren ökonomischen Vorteilen.){{citation |editor-surname1= Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum |title=Unter der Haut. Transformationen des Biologischen in der zeitgenössischen Kunst |publication-place=Duisburg |page=54 |isbn=978-3-7757-9071-0 |date=2001 |language=german

}}

Like a kind of human seismograph, Sheehan senses energies of the rooms in which she works and exhibits. Based on them, she develops her installations and performances: "There is a place of fertile tension between desire and consciousness, between looking out at the world and looking back in to the self. I go to this place to gather and form images, objects, actions and words. I meld with a material, until the physical experience sparks my practice. The actions I take are guided by this charge. In a state of heightened awareness, I sense the poignancy of a presence wanting to be manifested in my hands, asking to be born and shared." (in German: Es gibt einen Ort der fruchtbaren Spannung zwischen Wunsch und Bewusstsein, zwischen dem Blick auf die Welt und Retrospektive in das Selbst. Ich gehe an diesen Ort, um Bilder, Gegenstände, Handlungen nd Worte zu sammeln und zu bilden. Ich verschmelze mit dem Material, bis das physische Erleben meine Praxis anregt. Die Handlungen, die ich durchführe, sind davon bestimmt. In einem Stadium erhöhter Aufmerksamkeit fühle ich die Dringlichkeit einer Anwesenheit, die durch meine Hände manifestiert werden möchte, und darum bittet, geboren und vermittelt/geteilt zu werden.){{cite web|title=Artist Statement |work=heathersheehan.com |url=http://heathersheehan.com/artist-statement- |accessdate=15 March 2017 |first=Heather |last=Sheehan |language=german}}

Collections

Kunstmuseum Bonn,{{cite web |url=https://www.ecosign.de/de/die-ecosign/ueber-die-akademie/dozenten/heather-sheehan.php |title=Heather Sheehan |website=www.ecosign.de |accessdate=2019-07-06}}{{cite web |url=https://artfacts.net/artist/heather-sheehan/4812 |title=Heather Sheehan |website=artfacts.net |accessdate=2019-07-06}} Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków,{{cite web |title=Heather Sheehan |work=MOCAK (Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow) |url=https://en.mocak.pl/sheehan-en |accessdate=15 March 2017}} Poland
Stadtmuseum Siegburg,{{cite web |url=https://stadtmuseum-siegburg.de/ausstellungen/archiv/archiv-2010-bis-2019/index.html |title=Ausstellungsarchiv – 2010 bis 2019 |website=Stadtmuseum Siegburg |accessdate=2022-02-17}} Germany

Videography (selection)

1995: Performance: On Pink, 18′ 02″
1999: Single Opening,{{cite web |url=https://vimeo.com/112467563 |title=Heather Sheehan: Single Opening |website=vimeo.de |date=2014-11-21 |accessdate=2019-07-06}} 08′ 15″
2003: Performance: Each&Every, 04′ 21″
2015: Performance: Alighting on the River,{{cite web |url=https://vimeo.com/136372709 |title=Heather Sheehan: Alighting |website=vimeo.com |date=2015-08-15 |accessdate=2020-01-20}} 14′ 32″
2015: Performance: Waterline/Receding,{{cite web |url=https://vimeo.com/139187758 |title=Heather Sheehan: Waterline/Receding |website=vimeo.com |date=2015-09-14 |accessdate=2022-02-17}} 05′ 11″
2018: Performance: I shot myself in Augsburg,{{cite web |url=https://vimeo.com/303279293 |title=Heather Sheehan: I shot myself in Augsburg |website=vimeo.com |date=2018-11-28 |accessdate=2020-01-20}} 01′ 07″
2019: Burlap Poem video (2012–2019),{{cite web |url=https://vimeo.com/356005023 |title=Heather Sheehan: Burlap Poem video (2012–2019) |website=vimeo.com |date=2019-08-26 |accessdate=2020-01-22}} 11′ 57″
2021: Hers is a Story,{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jti-rxvW2xU |title=Hers is a Story |website=youtube.com |date=2021-09-17 |accessdate=2022-02-17}} 04′ 06″

Awards

2015 - 2016 MacDowell Colony Colony Fellowship, United States{{cite web |url=https://www.macdowell.org/artists?q=Heather+Sheehan |title=Heather Sheehan |website=Macdowell.org |accessdate=2022-02-17}}
2017 Guest artist at Schloss Plüschow, Germany{{cite web |title=Gastkünstler 2017 |url=http://www.plueschow.de/kuenstler/gastkuenstler-2017 |accessdate=15 March 2017 |language=german}}

References

External links

{{Official website|https://heathersheehan.com}}
{{DNB-Portal|120482207|NAME=Heather Sheehan}}
[http://www.kunstaspekte.de/person/heather-sheehan Heather Sheehan] at kunstaspekte.de
[http://www.artfacts.net/de/kuenstler/heather-sheehan-4812/profil.html Heather Sheehan at artfacts.net]
[https://daultondickey.wordpress.com/2017/12/08/an-interview-with-performance-artist-heather-sheehan/ An Interview with Performance Artist Heather Sheehan by Daulton Dickey]

Category:1961 births

Category:Living people

Category:MacDowell Colony fellows

Category:American installation artists

Category:20th-century American artists

Category:American performance artists

Category:21st-century American women photographers

Category:21st-century American photographers

Category:20th-century American women sculptors

Category:20th-century American sculptors