Click on magnifying glass icon to see full painting. Available for purchase at Lu Martin Galleries
Artist’s Description: Behind the thick textured pink coat and colorful scarf there is both a woman who embodies the spirit of what makes so many people fall in love with New York City and a person who has touched my life.
I first saw Heather when I was in elementary school. She came to speak with my sixth grade class about something, although I mainly remembered her dressed in all black with bright red lipstick. It used to be my super power then to remember what people wore the first time I saw them. I was thirteen years old when I later became friends with “that red lipstick girl.” It was the summer I had a spinal fusion after five years of being in a back-brace for scoliosis. With the new freedom from the brace, I also found freedom in new friendships. Heather came to the hospital to visit me with a group of teens and family friends. They brought me funny gifts, made me a musical get well video and took me for a wheelchair ride. The laughter and joy they inspired distracted me from the pain of healing and ushered me into my teen years with a feeling of belonging. I spent a lot of time with these artistic people especially at the community theater. In observing Heather then, I took note of how much she laughed and her unique colorful outfits, whether by her design or thrift store finds. It amazed me that she selected socks daily from an entire drawer that she purposely left without mates. She expressed herself through fashion and didn’t seem to care what people thought of her. I felt a kinship to this kind of spirit (I once wore a vintage bathtub drain on a necklace to school because I thought it was cool). Although, I think my interest in fashion that drew attention mainly had to do with years of being stared at for the back brace that formed a metal cage around my torso and neck; I figured I might as well create a distraction or wear what I would now label as embarrassing demonstrations of fashion rebellion since I couldn’t blend in anyway. I don’t think Heather ever tried to blend in nor did she care to. She was always boldly herself. She was the type of person who knew what she wanted and went after it with determination and a sense of play. When she left our home state of Iowa to move to New York City it was clear that she found a place to bloom. My appreciation of her grew over the years and I felt honored to see how the girl I knew laid the foundation for the woman she became, successful and brilliant in many creative ways. She went on to be a high-end hair stylist at one of the top salons in the city, then she switched gears, went back to school and reinvented herself as an editor in the children’s book world. I admire her ability to consistently embrace changed and stay connected with the pulse of contemporary culture.
For years I heard of NYC through Heather’s eyes…it is a city that she loves with unyielding passion. If I think of NYC, I think of her…so when I finally traveled there it was only fitting to experience the city by following her around.
The depth of the red in the background had to do with painting in a heat wave. The saturation of red forced me to choose the color pallet differently, finding solutions that worked with the bold background. In every painting, I find life lessons. In the first strokes of this one, I questioned if I would give up the painting and start over because the red got deeper than I intended. Yet sometimes that happens in life… things don’t always turn out the way we think they will or think they should. I decided not to give up; I decided to adapt, be patient feeling uncomfortable and let the painting tell me it’s story. I trusted that I would figure out what to do…and that is what happened, as it often does in life.
Brooke Harker
