Artist Statement
At the center of my work is a desire to use color and shape to call us back to the places within where we feel the most free, the most vulnerable, and the most ourselves. My childhood was spent exploring the wilds of the Pacific Northwest Coast and the lush, quiet undergrowth of the Cascade Mountains. Time there allowed me to feel peaceful and understood, like I was a known part of something magical and unbelievably vast. Even still, when surrounded by the ocean’s relentless crashing waves and brackish scent or the rushing waters of a glacial stream, my spirit is calmed. These landscapes are chaotic and messy and in every way perfect and beautiful.
I paint what these experiences leave within me. Often, I begin with bold colors and expressive mark making, yet at other times I feel a pull toward something more earthy and contemplative. Working intuitively, I add layers of oil, charcoal, pastels and any other media that I find helps me to tell those stories that words alone cannot fully express.
Biography
Heather Adamek is a self-taught, abstract expressionist painter based in Portland, Oregon. She has spent her career experimenting with different mediums, working to translate our collective stories onto canvas. Her paintings have won awards, been juried into art exhibitions, exhibited in galleries, and can be found in public and private collections throughout the world. Heather began painting to explore her relationship with perfectionism and why that felt like such a safe place to inhabit. The act of creating developed a sense of freedom that quickly spilled over into the rest of her life and she greatly appreciates the beauty and growth that comes from life lived outside her comfort zone.
Exhibitions/Gallery Affiliations/Press
EXHIBITIONS
2024
The Writers’ Block, “At the Edge of the Ocean” (Heather Adamek & Deanna Schuerbeke), June 6 - July 15, 2024, Portland, OR
“Tangible Cadence,” (Invitational Group Show) Poetry Month collaboration with Soliloquy Fine Arts & The Writers’ Block, April 2024, Portland, OR
Sustain Home, work currently on view & First Friday art chat in conjunction with White Salmon Arts Council, April 2024, Hood River, OR
Oregon Society of Artists, “OSA + Portland Art Museum RSG Members” (Group Show), March - April 2024, Portland, OR
Ford Gallery, “Club V” (Juried Group Show), March - April 2024, Portland, OR
2023
Chateau Orquevaux Artist in Residency, October 2023
Ford Gallery, “CMYK” (Invitational Group Show), August - September 2023, Portland, OR
Salem Art Fair, Best in Show - Abstract, July 2023, Salem, OR
Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts, Blue Ribbon Winner, June 2023, Lake Oswego, OR
Ford Gallery, “Club V” (Juried Group Show), March - April 2023, Portland, OR
2022
Art Fair Jackson Hole, Emerging Artist Winner, sponsored by the Wort Hotel, August 2022
Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts, Blue Ribbon Winner, June 2022
Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts, Emerging Artist Award, June 2022
GALLERY AFFILIATIONS
Clarke & Clarke Art + Artifacts, Mercer Island, WA
Northwest by Northwest Gallery, Cannon Beach, OR
ryan james fine arts, Kirkland, WA
Sustain Home, Hood River, OR
PRESS
Western Home Journal, Bend, Oregon, Spring & Summer 2024 issue
Preview Art Magazine, February 2024 issue
Domino Magazine, September 2023 issue
BENEFIT AUCTIONS
St. Jude’s Hospital - 2024
Cascade Aids Project NW - 2023
Father Bernard Youth Center - 2023