Heather Patterson
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Artist Heather Patterson creates wall-bound mosaic sculptures from salvaged wood, sea glass, ceramics, and metal, piecing together materials others have cast aside. “The moment my hands first touched wood, I was amazed by its versatility and vulnerability,” shares Heather. Her journey began unexpectedly after a tornado in Maine, when she stumbled across a bucket of discarded wood and started experimenting with form, texture, and story. Entirely self-taught, she approaches each piece intuitively—cutting, sanding, and assembling materials until they find their perfect place. Her studio, just steps from her home in Texas, starts off neatly organized before inevitably turning into a joyful whirlwind of buckets, baskets, and tools as inspiration strikes. When summer temperatures rise, she shifts to painting, collage, and mixed media—always finding new ways to create.
Artist Statement
The things we’ve left behind are found again in art.
I build three-dimensional sculpture mosaics using only found wood, sea glass, ceramics, and metals. Collecting the unremarkable evidence left behind from life- items washed up on a beach or tossed on the street, construction materials from demolitions and renovations, I connect what is overlooked with a new purpose.
The process of creation begins with collecting, the physical act of cleaning, cutting & sanding, sorting, staining, and drilling. Cutting the wood into blocks en masse, I allow the wood to find its place rather than measuring blocks to fill a space. Remarkably, there is always the right size for the right space. It is the process & the materials that tell the story. I may have a preconceived idea of what will be made, but ultimately, my hands will connect with the energy of the materials, and the life remaining in the wood will bring forth its own story. I build & create intuitively, mindful of the ways in which our lives are constantly being pieced together within ourselves, with others, and how much of life is a story of rupture and resurrection.
It is my hope that my art will bring the viewer a new perspective on the elements and items that surround our everyday life, a wonder at how many things we encounter in the course of this lifetime journey, and how everything has a place regardless of how it began, evolving into a new meaning.
I build three-dimensional sculpture mosaics using only found wood, sea glass, ceramics, and metals. Collecting the unremarkable evidence left behind from life- items washed up on a beach or tossed on the street, construction materials from demolitions and renovations, I connect what is overlooked with a new purpose.
The process of creation begins with collecting, the physical act of cleaning, cutting & sanding, sorting, staining, and drilling. Cutting the wood into blocks en masse, I allow the wood to find its place rather than measuring blocks to fill a space. Remarkably, there is always the right size for the right space. It is the process & the materials that tell the story. I may have a preconceived idea of what will be made, but ultimately, my hands will connect with the energy of the materials, and the life remaining in the wood will bring forth its own story. I build & create intuitively, mindful of the ways in which our lives are constantly being pieced together within ourselves, with others, and how much of life is a story of rupture and resurrection.
It is my hope that my art will bring the viewer a new perspective on the elements and items that surround our everyday life, a wonder at how many things we encounter in the course of this lifetime journey, and how everything has a place regardless of how it began, evolving into a new meaning.