Heather

Weirder, Cooler, Hotter

Acrylic on canvas with poplar frame

73.5 x 37.5"

For the month of December, Speck Gallery is currently featuring Heather Ward Miles’s oil and acrylic paintings. This self-titled show holds great personal significance to Heather, who has historically painted under the name H.Ward Miles for her entire career. 

Heather reflects on this: “I’m very dual, there’s H.Ward Miles, and there’s Heather Ward Miles. H. Ward Miles has been my alter ego; it’s protected me. My feelings don’t get hurt if people don’t like my work. It’s been this shell, and now I’m trying to merge things back together so I don’t have to be two different people. I can be Heather Ward Miles and be vulnerable in that.” 

Hiding Is So Much Easier 1-16

Acrylic on canvas with poplar frame

25.5 x 25.5"

Heather went through challenges in her personal life, including a divorce, an event which inspired much transformation in herself and her work. A theme that Heather has been reflecting on is the idea of breaking the fourth wall, which she defines as, “When you are an actor, and you’re on stage doing your thing, you’re in the zone and displaying your creativity, there is a fourth wall that divides you and the audience. You, as an actor, pretend that it’s there. If you turn to address the audience, you break the fourth wall. So the idea is that I’m breaking the fourth wall of H.Ward Miles as what I’ve tried to push in front of me. I tried to have her take all the heat. If anything bad happens, it's her fault, and I’ve tried to live my personal life right behind her.”

Heather wants to break the fourth wall by ending the separation between artist and artwork. Heather considers the work in the show to be like a diary; they include places she’s gone, as well as a series of day, night, and morning paintings which represent her best intentions, things going wrong, and the ways she has started again.

The Prayer

Acrylic on canvas with poplar frame

51.5 x 51.5"

The show can be viewed anytime during the month of December in the Speck Gallery during Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The works can also be viewed and purchased on our online gallery through January.