ENTANGLEMENT OF LIGHT – Heidi Jean Zenisek
On Friday, July 24th, guest artist of the month, Heidi Jean Zenisek, will open the exhibition ‘Entanglement of Light’. The house opens at 5:00 PM, with the artist reception starting at 8:00 PM. The exhibition will then be open Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM. We encourage everyone to attend!
Bio and Exhibition Statement
Heidi is an exaggerator of the sun and was raised by the moon. Surrounded by dirt, corn,
cows, and rust, she was born in a barn to humble farmers. Soon after, she became an
Eastern Iowa 4-H child prodigy, winning more ribbons than one can count. With those
glory days well behind her, she now spends her time making work that doesn’t
necessarily depict the land, but is of the land.
Having witnessed firsthand the whimsy and brutality of nature, her farmstead childhood
has uniquely shaped the lens through which she views the world. Time is measured by
the color of the fields and when babies are born. Vast expanses of crops are raised,
harvested, and migrated. Large quantities of material are vigorously used for months,
then discarded or replaced, and certain animals are only as valuable as their ability to
procreate. Though her work often shifts in form, material, and concept, those
experiences will always underlie her practice. Heidi’s rural upbringing has taught her the
difference between looking and seeing, hearing and listening.
It defined her understanding of good and bad
Collapsed the distance between life and death
Then showed her how to explore what lies in between.
With the rise of social media and AI, Heidi has become interested in how we interact
with what’s real. Throughout history, from cave paintings to cathedrals, from Monet to
Ansel to Olafur, humans have sought to capture and recreate nature. Before
smartphones, we made film slideshows, traded shot glasses painted with palm trees,
drew sketches, collected rocks, pressed flowers, and wrote songs. Today, we extend
that impulse into the digital realm, archiving obsessively with phone cameras and
uploading as a souvenir, proof, or memory.
Heidi’s work questions whether this pursuit of simulating the isness of nature and the
phenomena of the cosmos can be achieved. The wonder of the aurora borealis, the
solitude of standing in an infinite field, the shimmer of moonlight on the ocean that
causes something in your chest to expand… They are reminders that awe is as much a
physical experience as it is an emotional one. Can that be recreated?
