In my work, the geometric figures are stand-ins for people, each shape a character or portrait generalized into anonymity. Their gestures and the spaces between them depict social interactions or internalized feelings, while color and elements of landscape operate as metaphors. I’m particularly interested in subtle emotional exchanges, when small gestures and inflections – or inferred tone, when communicating in text – seem particularly important. It’s often in this subtle space that larger cultural and social hierarchies are expressed in our everyday lives.
Heather Lee Birdsong (b. 1984 in Spring Valley, Nevada) most often creates paintings, prints, and handmade books. Collections housing her work include the Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College in Claremont, CA; the Visual Chronicle of Portland, OR; and the SGC International Collection at the Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA. Birdsong is recipient of a Project Grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council (2014) and was an artist-in-residence in Print Arts Northwest's Emerging Printmakers Program (2012). She holds a BFA in Intermedia from the Pacific Northwest College of Art (2011). In addition to her studio practice, Birdsong is gallery manager at Upfor in Portland, Oregon.
