Heather Blume
Eye to I: Personal Exchanges
On Exhibit: October 15 - October 27
“Wherever I take my eyes, they always see things from my point of view” Ashleigh Brilliant
Whatever the medium, my artwork continues to be primarily related to people. Each person’s sense of self is unique and constantly evolving, shaped by our relationships with others and our own introspection.
In this series I explore inner and outer personal exchanges through painted portraits of myself and others. When beginning a portrait I have in mind what I think it will look like; it never ends up looking that way. Each sitting involves its’ own dynamic including persona, weather conditions, time of day, time of year, location, and much more. These influences are what I like most about working from life, the serendipitous nature of being in the moment. It may seem that the one constant is the artist but upon reflection I find the experience of self-portraiture to be just as multifaceted thus inspiring a number of double self-portraits as well as the more conventional single portraits.
I hope these paintings convey the complexity and fluidity of identity and invite viewers to reflect on their own sense of self and how it is intertwined with their perceptions of others.
Artist Bio:
Heather Blume first felt the call to become an artist in Provincetown, MA. There she was exposed to an art colony by the sea engaged in multiple ways of creating, teaching, and selling art. That impression inspired her to focus her art practice on drawing, sculpting, and painting narratives of human experience.
Blume graduated with a BFA summa cum laude in Painting from the University of North Florida and an MFA cum laude in Sculpture from the Graduate School of Figurative Art at the New York Academy of Art. She has been an Artist in Residence at the Vermont Studio Center, the Higgins Galley at the Cape Cod Community College, and at Edgewood Farm at Truro Center for the Arts. Blume’s artworks are in private collections and select sculptures are in the permanent collections of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM), the Cape Cod Museum of Art (CCMFA), and the Cahoon Museum of American Art. Internationally, her sculptures are included in the permanent collections of the British Museum in London and the Royal Coin Cabinet of Sweden in Stockholm. She is a recipient of several art awards and grants some of which include the State of Florida, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, and the Vermont Studio Center.
She is a select member of the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA) , the American Medallic Sculpture Association (AMSA), the Federation Internationale de la Medaille d’Art (FIDEM), and is an Artist Member of the Board of Trustees of PAAM. Blume has been a professional artist, art educator, and lecturer for the past 30 years.