As a multifaceted, award-winning, and professional artist, storyteller, author, and educator I always have several logs on the fire, not knowing which one(s) might ignite. My work involves consistent submissions to fine art exhibitions, writing true personal narrative essays and submitting them for publication (or not) in books worldwide. Storytelling festival pitches involve video links of me performing on stage, in-action in front of live audiences.
Working as a guest specialist teacher involves planning ahead and coordinating with organizing institutions’ grant applications and school calendars. I keep my online professional footprint active on LinkedIn, Instagram, my website, and other social media platforms. Plus, I’m an energetic member of several organizations within my diverse professional silos.
As a gardener or a farmer would sow their seeds, I plant things constantly, in and out of season, not knowing if any will bloom or not. Yet, as someone who has been self-employed for decades, I’ve learned you have to keep casting that net, sowing those seeds. You never know what you will catch or what might take root.
Behold! When I wasn’t even looking or trying, back in February, out of the blue, I receive an unexpected email from a gallery manager inviting me to be considered as one of eight Connecticut printmakers in an upcoming exhibition. This was not a Call for Entry submission, this was a curated selection by a manager who did her research.
Then, to have one of my 11 selected original clay monotypes chosen to be featured on the cover of the flyer, endorses my creative expression artistry and makes all my behind-the-scenes efforts worth it.
Please see the exhibition, it is a distinctive collection of contemporary printmaking styles and techniques and come to the Artist Reception if you can.
Creativity and wellness message for today: Never underestimate the power of what you do, keep true to yourself, and enjoy the fruits of your labors.
Photo of frozen pizza crust package by (c) Adair Heitmann
“The object of art is not to make salable pictures. It is to save yourself . . . The thing of course, is to make yourself alive. Most people remain all their lives in a stupor. The point of being an artist is that you may live.” – Sherwood Anderson
Creativity and wellness message for today: Just create — music, dance, song, stories, sculpture, written word, oral word, photography, printmaking, paintings, big, small, plays, public art or private art — just do it in order to feel alive.
Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. (Disclaimer: I haven’t read his works but I agree with what he said in the above quote about the object of art.)
Like Robert Fulghum’s best-selling book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarden, my post today celebrates my alma mater and how the skills I learned in college continue to be keys to my career successes today.
After graduating with a BFA, cum laude from Syracuse University, little did I know that my fine art major and photograhy minor would solidly prepare me for a world of corporate, entrepreneurial, literary, and yes, artistic, and creative accomplishments. Fresh out of art school I landed a job with The Central New Yorker in Syracuse, NY. It was a printing press and magazine publisher. I didn’t know a pica rule from a proportion scale. But, in college, I mastered hand/eye coordination, I already had a good brain, and my honed observation skills coupled with my trained manual dexterity made me a fast learner in the field of graphic design.
That job led to others in graphic design. Again, I didn’t have the exact skills (yet) that The C.R. Gibson Company in Norwalk, CT sought. Yet my fine art portfolio (I was a professional exhibiting artist by then), plus my previous work as a designer for a printing company got my foot in the door as a freelance artist. Again, I didn’t know a descender from an ascender, when I was hired to hand-letter (each press type letter one at a time) large signage for photo shoots of their gift products for its catalog. Again, my art school skills of observation, composition, balance, inventive ideas, color choice, and picking up new technical skills rapidly, prompted the company to hire me full-time.
From there, Xerox Learning Systems in Stamford, CT recruited me. I went from designing cute note cards and photo albums of colorful little bunnies and froggies to designing for corporations preparing their sales, marketing, and interpersonal management skills programs printed materials. At this publishing company I worked with mainframe computers, typesetting and designing for publication. Had I leaned any of my new skills at art school? Directly no. Had I learned how to be a quick start, be open to new ideas, and follow directions, yes.
Decision Resources in Westport, CT recruited me from XLS and I joined the world of entrepreneurial technology. As Manager of Graphic Design, I worked with their software platforms — ChartMaster, SignMaster, DiagramMaster, and MapMaster. My department was on the team that led to the company’s profitable acquisition by AshtonTate who was acquired by Lotus who was acquired by Adobe who was acquired by IBM. Yes, I actually worked with the original company who invented what was later known as Desktop Publishing, no joke. Did I learn how to do that in art school? No. Did I learned how to seize opportunities, yes. How to be open to new ideas, yes. How to hold myself to a high level of professionalism, yes.
I don’t want to run on and on with my professional history here, but I will share one more thing. When I worked for a library and cultural arts organization, over a ten-year period, twice I led the design of a new website for the institution. What I learned in art school and especially being a printmaking major, was how to chunk down huge projects into specific time-line details. At the beginning of each semester my lithography professor, Bruce Manwaring, told his students we had to produce six editions by the end of the semester. He then taught us the technical skills of drawing with oil-based materials and how to carry the 100 pound slabs of Bavarian limestone around the studio. I learned how to work in opposites and we were on our own to sink or swim. He didn’t instruct us on what to draw or paint, that was up to us.
Professor Don Cortese did the same thing in his etching class. We had to create and produce six editions, learn technically how to apply gum arabic to our etched zinc plates then submerge them in nitric acid baths. I used heavy ink rollers to ink my matrix, and maneuvering a manual, huge, printing press, I created images as exact to each other as humanly possible. In art school, I learned how to manage time and solve problems. I learned how to follow a specific set of rules for an agreed upon outcome, prioritize, and stay motivated. I learned how to be a Project Manager.
My fine art careers are rewarding and diverse. My writing and storytelling work ignites me because it’s creative. I’m familiar with learning new skills and I love a metaphorical blank canvas. I know how to create something out of nothing.
I’m now an educator as a Poet-in-Residence in public schools and I teach creative writing in universities. I perform true personal narrative stories live and online. I’m a story artist. I take my hat off to Syracuse University and the College of Visual and Performing Arts. As an educational institution, you may never know how far reaching your dedication to the arts is. Today, this fine arts major thanks you.
Here I am before I leave for my last teaching day of 2023.
Creativity and wellness message for today: Use what you have learned and carry the light forward.
A gallery director once asked me, “If you get happy, will you still make art?” I’d had several lucrative art exhibitions at her Greenwich, CT gallery. She was psychologically astute as well as a solid business-woman. My creative work was a commodity she needed to track for her bottom-line.
“Take your broken heart, make it into art.” ~ Carrie Fisher, as quoted by Meryl Streep
As a young artist I did find inspiration in my broken heart. Yet as I grew older, I dedicated myself to personal development, and over time, I changed, and, so did my work. I’m happy with that.
Creativity and wellness message for today: Have the courage to allow your own transformation to change your creative expression.
I’m sharing a moment of gratitude for my storytelling community near and far. Storytellers have this way of getting to the heart of the matter and for being an inclusive band of renegades and angels. I am fortunate to have stumbled upon the art and act of visual storytelling — writing, creating visuals, and speaking the spoken word in front of live audiences.
As an artist and writer who specializes in personal narratives, visual storytelling is right up my alley. I appreciate my national storytelling exchange group via Zoom and the drafts they sat through, asked questions about, and provided constructive feedback on. The Bridgeport Art Trail Storytelling Exchange is phenomenal! Our local in-person We Rise Storytelling Collective is fun and risky and embracing. Thank you for encouraging me to tell my authentic stories in front of such an appreciative group! Then there is the national Artists Standing Strong Together that connects and weaves and advances the art of storytelling.
Recently, one of my stories “Art Saved My Life: Journey of a Lifetime” was selected for me to present in front of a live audience in a theatre alongside 12 other visual storytellers and the entire experience rocked my world. There is this vibe and connection between the PechaKucha Night Bridgeport storytellers that cut through any phoniness or pretense. The tellers shared their own true stories on the theme: Journeys: How Did We Get Here? Thank you City Lights Gallery and PechaKucha Night Bridgeport.
You can watch and listen to my 2022 PechaKucha presentation here. Please be advised it has adult content about healing and transformation.
Creativity and wellness message for today: Consider creating and sharing stories in the presence of others, it may just change your life!
Here I am speaking at The Unitarian Church of Westport, CT
Watch out for who you run into at your local gardening center! There I was, minding my own business, choosing colorful potted flowers for my front porch, when I saw a friend browsing the outdoor aisles. We got to talking and catching up. She follows me on social media and asked about my recent art exhibitions and writing projects. Gab, gab, share, share, it was a lovely day to be outside and even lovelier to be chatting with her.
We say goodbye and a few weeks later, I’m asked if I would be interested in leading a lay-led summer service at The Unitarian Church in Westport, CT. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. What might be of value to the folks in the pews? I asked my friend (who was the Worship Associate) and she answered, “Talk about your art.” Hmmmmmmmmmm. Yes, I could talk about that until the cows come home, but is that really of value to the people in the seats?
Then I said, “I could speak about losing fifty years of my original fine art in a silent basement flood right before I was planning a retrospective.” She leaned in. I immediately followed my intuition and promptly said, “I could title my homily, “A.R.T: Action, Reflection, Transformation.” Ding, ding, ding, she thought it a great idea.
While it was a challenge writing my personal narrative homily with a message, I got as much out of it as the congregants. Being asked to speak was validation of me and my worthiness. Having my idea liked made me feel recognized. Hearing, seeing, and feeling the responses from the people in the pews and from them afterwards opened my heart.
Watch a video of my homily below. It starts at 13:26.
“Feather Light” clay monotype with chine collé by Adair Heitmann on view in juried exhibition
My art was recently selected by juror, James Barron, into the Spectrum Contemporary Art Exhibition at the Carriage Barn Arts Center in New Canaan, CT. The theme of the show is “Renewal,” apt and timely. I’m proud to be in the exhibition. Being accepted helps me keep going, keep creating, and keep creatively experimenting.
I’ve also been submitting to art and writing residencies around the US. I’ve wanted to be accepted into one for decades! I applied to one 30 years ago, got rejected, felt defeated, and never re-applied. Now I have the courage (and time) to keep pursuing applications to a variety of venues and locations. I’ve applied now to four, and have been rejected, so far by three. Still awaiting news on the fourth.
Over the years my mind set has changed from lasting despair if I don’t get accepted to viewing my submitting process as Rejection Accomplishments. It’s my responsibility to myself, as an artist and a writer, and someone who really wants the collaborative and focused work environment of a residency, to keep applying. I learn something new each time I apply to a different residency.
My Excel spreadsheet of possibilities, deadlines, and websites is lengthy, I have more creative opportunities then I have time and space to submit to. It’s a good problem to have!
Creativity and wellness message for today: After feeling the loss of rejection, consider patting yourself on the back and acknowledging “Job well done, now on to the next!”
PechaKucha Night Bridgeport, CT. Photo credit: Arne Heitmann
Have you ever wanted to reinvent yourself? I’ve done it many times and I’ve lived to tell the tales!
I know first-hand what it’s like to outgrow your job and how the creative process isn’t always linear. I also know how art and writing and expressing myself have saved me time and time again. And how being in the creative flow makes me feel alive. Taking leaps and willingness to walk into the unknown are beacons in my life.
“Creativity is the Mother of Reinvention” is my visual storytelling about life continuously being about retooling and reinventing. I shared it at the PechaKucha Night Vol. 12 “Reinvention + Discovery” at the Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport, Connecticut as a part of the 13th annual Bridgeport Art Trail. It’s 6 minutes/40 seconds with 20 fast-paced inspiring slides. I welcome you to take a look and a listen!
Adair Wilson Heitmann's Blog 