Norma Heyser
Born
Norma Edythe Heyser

1933
Portland, Oregon
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Oregon
Museum Art School
Marylhurst University
Known forModernist paintings, collage
Notable work"Centennial Painting 1959"

Norma Heyser (born 1933) is an American contemporary artist from Portland, Oregon, who worked in mixed media and new art forms, influenced by Cubism and Abstract expressionism.

Early life and education

Norma Edythe Heyser, born in Portland in 1933,[1][2] is the daughter of Norman Lewis Heyser and Agnes Grace Peters.[3][4] She studied at the University of Oregon with Andrew Vincent and David McCosh from 1951 to 1953, and at the Museum Art School with William Givler from 1953 to 1956, earning a BA in art from Marylhurst University in 1980.[1] She married Ronald Orrin Peterson in 1956[2] and they reared two sons.[5]

She and her husband worked at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City during 1957–1958.[6] They returned to Portland in 1958 to open the New Gallery of Contemporary Ar, which closed in 1962.[7][8][9]

In 1963, she co-taught a course at Mt. Angel College along with Ron Peterson, Joyce Britton, and Lee Kelly, entitled, "Explorations in Art," which consisted of "lectures, demonstrations and practice in sculpting, drawing and painting".[10]

Critical reception

Heyser's earliest work was influenced by cubism. In the 1950s, she became an abstract expressionist artist, while in the 1960s she self-identified as an Oregon modernist[11] and created "installation and conceptual art and began to experiment with mixed media and other new art forms".[7] Since 1982, Heyser has worked in mixed media and collage, as well as ink drawings.[7]

Reviewing a 1961 exhibit, The Capital Journal wrote,

The paintings of Norma Heyser are predominately large in scale, bold in their powerful images and simple in choice of color. One can sense a vast kinetic energy in the movement of color and form, a fact borne out by the Artist's own statement that she feels the relation of her painting in this idiom to dance and music.[12]

In 1968, The Capital Journal wrote of Heyser, "The young Portland artist is described as one of the most innovative proponents of the 'new art' which goes beyond two-dimensional wall painting and pedestal sculptures for total viewer involvement."[13]

Heyser has been quoted saying she "stopped making [art] work for ecology reasons", and that for her "art and social action are inseparable".[7]

Selected exhibitions

  • Blue-yellow, Mt. Angel College, 1960[14]
  • An Exhibition of Portland Painting and Sculpture, Bush House, with Lee Kelly and Joyce Britton, 1961[15]
  • Norma Heyser, A journey from 1962[16][17]
  • "Centennial Painting 1959" 1959, oil on canvas, Mark Ross Gearhart Collection, Hallie Ford Museum of Art.

Publications

  • Little Body Book: Every Human Body is a Work of Art [5][11][18]

Awards and honors

  • Oregon Centennial Exposition and Trade Fair of 1959, award for painting[19]
  • 2013 — Honored at Hallie Ford Museum "for her life's contributions to the art world"[20]

References

  1. 1 2 House, Phinney/Bischoff Design (March 2013). "Norma Heyser's Life in the Arts • Marylhurst University • Portland, Oregon". www.marylhurst.edu. Archived from the original on March 16, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Oregon, State Marriages, 1906-1966". www.ancestry.com. January 4, 1957. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  3. ↑ "1940 United States Census". www.ancestry.com. April 22, 1940. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Washington, Marriage Records, 1854-2013". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Third Tuesday Author: Norma Heyser | City of Lake Oswego". www.ci.oswego.or.us. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  6. ↑ A Pacific Profile of Young West Coast Painters. Pasadena Art Museum. 1961.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Afternoon Tea Honors Norma Heyser and Her Life in the Arts". Willamette University. June 18, 2013. Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Norma Heyser and Ron Peterson, 1960-2000 | University Archives". libmedia.willamette.edu. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Archives West: New Gallery of Contemporary Art Scrapbook, 1958-1962". archiveswest.orbiscascade.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Art courses slated for Mt. Angel". The Capital Journal. January 26, 1963. p. 24. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  11. 1 2 Randall, Barb. "Norma Heyser to share 'Little Body Book'". Pamplin Media Group. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Creative art seen". The Capital Journal. August 7, 1961. p. 11. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Exhibit set at Linnfield". The Capital Journal. January 20, 1968. p. 2. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  14. ↑ www.bibliopolis.com. "Norma Heyser Sculpture blue-yellow by Norma Heyser on Monograph Bookwerks". Monograph Bookwerks. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  15. ↑ "At Bush House : New exhibit to open in gallery". Statesman Journal. July 23, 1961. p. 16. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Mt. Agel art show scheduled". The Capital Journal. November 10, 1965. p. 6. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Constructions by Heyser at Mt. Angel Show". Statesman Journal. November 7, 1965. p. 26. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  18. ↑ Beechwood, Elizabeth (July 10, 2018). "Conversations with Writers and 9 Bridges Presents: Norma Heyser: Find Your Voice Through Memoir". Washington County Writers Forum. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Norma Heyser's life in the arts". Marylhurst University. 2013. Archived from the original on March 16, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Marylhurst Unlimited - Fall 2013". 2013. p. 5. Retrieved June 29, 2020 – via Issuu.
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