Metallic Lilypads after Monet | 2023

Fe Heffernan

My work involves using found materials in unexpected ways to create sculptural forms with movement and light creating a variety of projections.  I enjoy the challenge of working with materials that can produce movement, shadow, light, shape, size, colour, and space combined in a series of shifting challenges.  I create these forms to express my fascination with nature due to my twenty years of environmental and community-based work. I like to play with the perceptions of space and volume, encouraging viewers to question what they see.  The work often materialises in forms that explore movement, composition, space, and reflections.

New Zealand-born Sculptor, Fe Heffernan, works with material-based sculpture. Her qualifications include a degree in Sculpture from the Australian National Art School. I also hold qualifications in Visual Arts, Health and Arts, Resource Management and Project Management.  Her professional experience includes her sculptural piece in a collaboration with the European Academy 2019 Gold Lion Venice Biennale winner about climate change.  Heffernan draws on her unique background as a National Conservation Coordinator and twenty years of environmental and community-based work. In particular, her experiences working at the intersections of health, nature and art have developed from her work in Dementia Arts.  D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson’s text on ‘Growth and Form’ is a major inspiration in her creative process through different mediums.        My art career has involved dementia and working to explore how the arts can help to shift the focus in terms of what it means to have a diagnosis of dementia and the implications that this has on creative engagement and contribution. My mother was a long-term dementia sufferer is where my journey in art commenced.      When verbal communication is challenging, holding, and playing with creative ART movement items that engage a dementia sufferer even if only for a few minutes, offers a person a chance to be ‘in control’, express something about themselves and their mood.   This work with my mother and other dementia patients has inspired my creative journey including in sculpture works below:

Below is a little summary of some of my work

2022  Sculpture in a Matcham Garden. Collaborators and ambassadors. The Drawing Exchange (TDA) collaborated on the title ‘ site’ between Adelaide Central School of Art,  NAS and the Maitland Regional Art Gallery (NSW). The site I worked at is the National Art School. Drawing Gallery assisting Nadia Odlum.  Adelaide Biennale sculpture in bottles participant to be installed by Laith McGregor in SOS.  National Parks and Wildlife Service NSW Residency at Hill End with a group show curated by Luke Sciberras.  Collaborator NSW Architects Club Sculptural creation for a Stage Design.  Collaborator Australian Centre for Contemporary Art Victoria – Who is Afraid of Public Space?   2021. Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition Rosby Sculpture in the Gardens. Sculpture Exhibition Rayner Hoff Project Space. Cell Block Sculpture Exhibition National Art School. Sculpture Red Room Exhibition National Art School. Stone Carving Exhibition Methven NZ Summer School   2020. Artist in Residence in Quarantine, Grand Millennium Hotel, Auckland.   2019. Venice Biennale Participant.   A sculptural piece in a collaboration with the European Academy 2019 Gold Lion Venice Biennale winner, about climate change.   Finalist in the NT Wearable Arts.       2018.  Participant in the Sydney Biennale – Our Songs 4C Art Gallery.   Artist Assistant to Zadok Ben –David in the Sculpture by the Sea and the Perth International Arts installation      2017.  The Big Draw with Youth Arts in the Hive Gallery (The Big Draw patron is Quentin Blake).   May Day Unions Installation in the Public Green Auckland NZ.   2016   Installation for Australians Against Trafficking in Humans. installation Australia Lawns Parliament House Canberra.

Career Highlights

The highlight of my Sculptural Practice is that I participated in the 2019 Venice Biennale, and I am accepted to participate in the 2024 Venice Biennale with the European Cultural Commission.   I have been selected for a Group Show in Time Square in New York City by the NY Art Walk.  I am in the Sculpture show SWELL on the Gold Coast this year as a participant.   My work has been accepted to other sculpture shows that I outlined in my art journey below.   My work is collected in the Pacific and NZ. I have also taken part in a variety of residencies.