Heather Marie March 2015-16 Oregon State Scholarship Winner
Heather Marie March was selected as the Yaquina Art Association scholarship winner from Oregon State University. She will have a show of her artwork in the YAA gallery from July 26th through July 31st. Heather just graduated with a BFA in Applied Visual Arts with an option in Photography. There will be an opening reception in the Nye Beach YAA Gallery June 26th from 5-7 pm with a chance to visit with the award winner. The gallery is open from 11 am to 5 pm daily at 789 NW Beach Drive in Newport.
Heather March spends a lot of time taking pictures in places that she is drawn too, like open fields, barns, and the middle of nowhere. For this series she gathered up and curated images she has taken over the last three years that exude feelings of the kind of peaceful life she longs for, however romanticized it is, and the Hidden Valley series was born.
Hidden Valley is filled with oak trees guarding big tall grassy fields. The little glow of a wildflower and the song of a busy bee. The soothing cacophony of bugs at night and the chattering dance of birds as dawn breaks. The way the breezes seem to whisper more than just blow. It’s always called to Heather, this dream of being in the fields, under a tree, or on a big front porch. It’s less of a place and more a feeling, but still the kind of place where faith and hard work pull everyone through. Creating always draws her back to this idea, this dream, this idyllic place. Through the creative process of photography Heather has to slow down, see the details, and notice the small things that solidify and make up the whole scene, emotion or thought.
These images evoke the moods, feelings, and experiences that draw her back to this central idea that is omnipresent in her head. Through film photography she was forced to slip into a slower process of creating the images, allowing myself to notice the details that come together to create the whole. Eighty percent of the images in this show were shot with 35mm film using a Canon AE1, and the other two with a Canon D60.
She has a Facebook page: www.facebook.com/whistlingdixiephotography.
