Heidi Wanzek is an artist based in Northern Minnesota. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Artist Statement
Creating allows me to speak an emotional language that translates the universal questions and everyday encounters of the human experience. Woven into our lives are traces of change, growth, birth, death, and rebirth. Noticing and working with these cycles is the essence of my practice. Through intuition and observation, I find my materials and subject matters rooted in my experience in becoming. As I work with materials, I explore how they fit into the stages of these natural cycles and how their materiality relates to the current human experience. I often repurpose found materials because of their inherent ambiguity and openness to become something almost familiar. I choose to collect objects I feel a natural connection with, through the cyclical language of patterns they speak. These objects have typically been left behind, are decaying, or are in their last stages of life, allowing me to explore their abundant history and reveal the potency they hold. I approach these materials with reverence and collaborate with them to showcase the circular nature of our universe; all matter, artificial or natural, is bound to the same fate regardless of intended purpose. My practice involves listening to these materials to find which sculptural method will elevate and hold them in their transitory state of being. I often discover what I am creating as it naturally reveals itself to me. My process unfolds similarly to how the universe functions; every step is interconnected without bounds, inevitably interdependent and overlapping.
CV
Solo Exhibitions
2025 (Forthcoming) Within the Threshold, Duluth Art Institute
Duluth, MN
Group Exhibitions
2025 (Forthcoming) North of the 45th Juried Exhibition, DeVos Art Museum
Marquette, MI
2024 32nd Annual Juried Show, MacRostie Art Center
Grand Rapids, MN
2023 31st Annual Juried Show, MacRostie Art Center
Grand Rapids, MN
2022 Sharefolder Fantasy, Melbourne Design Week
Virtual Exhibition
2021 Extinction: Save the Planet, Gallerium, Biafarin Juried Exhibition and Publication
Virtual Exhibition
2021 Where We Are: Juried Show, Sharp Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, IL
2020 Undergraduate Thesis Exhibition, SAIC Galleries 33 E. Washington St
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, IL
2019 Generation Modulation, Kimball Design Showroom
Chicago, IL
2018 Mulligan, Zero Craft Corp, Hatton Gallery, Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO
2018 Glass Case Exhibition, Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO
Education
2021 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Bachelor of Fine Arts
Chicago, IL
2019 Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency
Saugatuck, MI
2016-2018 Colorado State University, Art, Art History, and Anthropology
Fort Collins, CO
Awards & Press
2022 Cover Feature, Great Lakes By Design Magazine: Volume 6, Issue 4
2020 Merit Scholarship, Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency
2018 Presidential Scholarship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2017-2018 Dean’s List, Colorado State University
2016 Presidential Scholarship, Colorado State University
2016-2018 Honors Scholarship, Colorado State University
Relevant Professional Experience
2023- Owner and operator of Prairie Rose Farm and Floral, a regenerative farm and
current land-based floral design practice in Mahtowa, MN