{"id":63962,"date":"2022-06-14T09:32:30","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T15:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=63962"},"modified":"2022-06-24T17:03:08","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T23:03:08","slug":"rison-shine-a-studio-visit-with-heather-rison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/rison-shine-a-studio-visit-with-heather-rison\/","title":{"rendered":"Rison Shine: A Studio Visit with Heather Rison"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Heather Rison uses her sculpture to display her jewelry (photo by Heather Hopkins)<\/p><\/div>\n

\nIn an overheard conversation prior to our interview, a passerby who knows the artist exclaims, \u201cYou made your earrings?!\u201d Instead of a simple yes, Heather Rison opts for, \u201cI make a lot of things,\u201d followed by a smirk. A seemingly simple statement was an apt introduction to this Salt Lake City-based artist.<\/h4>\n

It is not unusual for galleries and museums to separate two-dimensional and three-dimensional works. Similarly, it is not unusual for artists to claim the title of painter, or sculptor. It is much rarer to find an artist who oscillates between mediums. That is understandable, as each is a time-consuming and difficult craft to master on its own. To not only try your hand at both, but to also produce extraordinarily moving works in both, is a feat Heather Rison has accomplished.<\/h4>\n
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A figures study using loose brushwork in Rison’s studio (photo by Heather Hopkins)<\/p><\/div>\n

Rison moved to Salt Lake City from California a decade ago to pursue her love of painting. She was able to hone her technical skills under the supervision of figurative artist and instructor Jeff Hein<\/a>. And while Rison credits his instruction for her adoption of a photorealistic technique, she felt boxed into that style. She has broken out of that box, one loose painterly stroke at a time. For a number of years her work primarily consisted of portraits in which the emotion of the subject took center stage while their features were the result of shadow and a rich oil color palette.<\/h4>\n

Neither oils or models are a cheap acquisition for a young artist. Rison began to model locally for figure drawing and painting classes in exchange for free admission, and access to models. She is featured in the documentary, Color Me Nude<\/em>, on the subject of figure modeling in Salt Lake City, which can be found on Vimeo. This decision to model not only led to a more intimate relationship with her own body, but helped to expand her ideas of beauty as well. The video opens with Rison saying, \u201cI was just listening to a song last night that says, ‘I am not my hair. I am not my skin. I am not my clothes. I am the beauty within.\u2019 I try to embody that.\u201d<\/h4>\n