SPRING RESIDENTS 2018
heather beardsley
(United States)
Különös növények
Inspired by a visit last winter to Pripyat, a ghost town near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, this body of work explores the push and pull between the built and natural environment in contemporary urban spaces. Although presented in a whimsical fashion, using an intimate scale and craft materials like children’s modeling clay and embroidery, on closer examination the implications are actually more sinister. As strange plants seemingly grow uncontrollably through the buildings and streets of Budapest, people are either absent or oblivious to the situation. Viewers are left to wonder about this change in dynamic, what preceded it, and what will prevent it.
Heather Beardsley received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Fibers and Material Studies in 2015, a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2012, and a BA in History and Art from the University of Virginia in 2009. Following her MFA, Heather was granted a Fulbright Scholarship for Installation Art in Vienna, Austria. In 2016 she was awarded an International Artist Scholarship by the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, Germany. She has had solo exhibitions at the Staatliches Naturhistorisches Museum Braunschweig, Germany, and Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria. Some recent group exhibitions include Fake at Science Gallery, Dublin, Amateras Annual Mini Paper Art Competition at the National Palace of Culture in Bulgaria, and The 12th International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art “Scythia” in Ivano-Frankivs’k, Ukraine.