HEATHER WILCOXON, ARTIST
Heather lives and works in the Bay Area. She received her BFA and MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute . She has exhibited widely, including the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, The Boulder Museum of Contemporary of Art, The American University Museum, in Washington DC., The Triton Museum and The Fresno Art Museum.
Her work is in several permanent collections including The Fine Arts Museum, Auchenbach Foundation of Graphic Arts in San Francisco, the De Saisset Museum, The Fresno Art Museum, and The Triton Museum.
She has received several fellowship awards. Two from the Pollock/ Krasner Foundation, New York. Three painting grants from the Buck Foundation in Marin County and a residency fellowship from the Djerassi Artist Residency Program. She Recently was grant recipient from the Tree of Life Foundation out of North Carolina. and The Distinguished Women in the Arts Award from the Fresno Art Museum.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Raw emotion is truth, which is what I put into my paintings. If something upsets me, I paint about it. I have to feel deeply about something in order for it to matter to me —whether it’s political, social, environmental or personal. Without an emotional reaction, I have nothing to say. I take long breaks from painting in order to clear my head, pursuing other forms of art in that gap, such as clay, assemblage, printing or drawing. In the end, I always return to painting. It has taught me patience. Waiting is part of my process.