Barbara Heller

Barbara Heller’s Artist Statement

My work reflects my concerns about our world – one fraught with inequities, beset by senseless violence in the name of a “greater good”, people in pain, the environment, and our increasing psychological isolation from one another. My most recent work warns of the degradation of the environment of our home, Gaiea, through careless acts and acts motivated by greed. These concerns may not always be evident but they are always there as subtext.

I draw on personal travels and experiences, my Jewish heritage, my own old family photos, and the mystical side of world religions to develop a personal iconography that will resonate with the viewer. I want to express what we are losing – our sense of who we are and how we fit into our world – and hope for the future.

Barbara Heller’s Biography

Barbara Heller is a passionate proponent of the art of tapestry and of the place of tapestry in contemporary art. She has exhibited widely over the past forty years, locally, nationally, and internationally. Her tapestries have been featured in several books, magazines, and newspaper articles, and in two catalogs from solo shows, Cover Ups and Revelations: the Tapestries of Barbara Heller (2005) and Falling from Grace (2014). As well as trying to be at her loom every day, she has organized exhibitions and symposia, written articles, given lectures, edited publications and juried and curated exhibitions. She served on the board of the American Tapestry Alliance for 8 years and filled other volunteer positions. Barbara founded the British Columbia Society of Tapestry Artists, a non-profit society for the promotion of tapestry, and also the Canadian Tapestry Network which produces a newsletter with a Canadian slant three times a year.