Heidi Marie Broner

BIO:

Heidi Broner grew up in a family of artists, immersed in an atmosphere in which pleasurable visual attention was given to the most ordinary objects and creatures. Drawing and painting were a natural, delightful part of daily life. Her interests have led her to work in a wide variety of media: in addition to painting, she has illustrated books, designed and painted murals, and worked for many years with Bread and Puppet Theater as an artist and performer.

In 1999 she began working in the Vermont granite industry—a very physical and traditional industry—hand engraving custom drawings directly onto black stone. Working in the granite sheds alongside the stone craftsmen has given her a deeper appreciation of the skill, patience, and attention to task that is developed by people who work in the trades. In 2003, she began her Work series of paintings.

Her paintings have been exhibited at numerous galleries and museums, including Studio Place Arts, T.W. Wood Museum of American Art, the Flinn Gallery, CVMC Gallery, Bryan Memorial Gallery, and The Highland Center For The Arts. Her work has been collected by both private individuals and corporations.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT:

For the past two decades I have been painting people , often at work. I am drawn by the sight of someone moving with unselfconscious grace and assurance within a world which is, to the worker, well known and rich in meaning and association.

Because I’m not interested in a crafted pose, I start a painting from one of the many photos I take on the fly, while out and about. I don’t see the photo as still, but as extremely slow, slow motion, and I love spiraling deeper and deeper into that slowed down moment.  Every time I return to a painting in progress, a different aspect reveals itself to me, adding another layer of experience, pleasure, struggle, and thought. Colors change, objects are removed or added, invisible atmosphere transforms into something visible.

Often, the posture of the worker suggests a less definable and more mythic narrative: peering over the edge of the world, struggling with his own shadow, quietly connecting the intricate threads of communication, or unearthing something unknown. It seems to me that the familiar tasks we all perform have this somehow satisfying resonance.