June artist // basement // Heidi Kirkpatrick

For the month of June, Venti’s Basement welcomes long time friend, photographer and Portlander Heidi Kirkpatrick.

Heidi is one of Dino’s original Oregon friends. I was introduced to Heidi and her husband Doug when Dino and I were dating and starting to get serious and he likened my meeting them to meeting his family. Thank goodness both Heidi and Doug approved!

We have a few Heidi Kirkpatrick photos in our home, each one vastly different in subject matter. There is an image of a green man foliate face/architectural embellishments projected onto a the back of a muscular man, contrasty, dark, beautiful — from her Flesh & Stone collection. Another is an odd low angle shot of the gorgeous Art Deco frieze at Rockefeller Plaza (NYC),  featuring the iconic bearded god with slicing lines framing him in to the center of the piece.

Within the last 10 years, Heidi has also began producing multimedia pieces, where she’ll print onto acetate and place images upon wood blocks, within the pages of carefully folded dictionaries and tucked inside the lids of vintage tin containers. Dino and I have an incredible  4″ x 4″ wood block featuring a tightly cropped woman’s booty — a classic in our home. The piece sits next to Dino’s coffee/reading perch.

Of course my favorite Heidi Kirkpatrick in our home is a single, unframed print of Dino from 1995 or 1996. He is crouching in a Portland alley, fresh from working out. I feel like I was there.

So yes, there is history and connection between Heidi and the Ventis and it is a long time coming that she show her work at Venti’s Cafe. We are privileged to host a variety of Heidi’s prints through the month of June.

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Artist’s statement below:

Heidi L. Kirkpatrick, an established fine art photographer, based in Portland Oregon has exhibited widely over the last ten years. Kirkpatrick offers interpretations of the world experienced from a women’s perspective, often using subjects with whom she has a personal relationship. Kirkpatrick pairs photographs with found objects—children’s blocks, boxes, books and even old ash trays to create renewed objects of art. By incorporating figurative images and actual portraits, Kirkpatrick “reframes” these stories, allowing for ever changing vignettes. Kirkpatrick develops her own images, including silver gelatin printing, alternative processes, photographs using a Holga toy camera, transparent images on film and 3-D mixed media objects. Kirkpatrick’s work is included in collections at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, Springfield Museum of Art, Ohio and The OHSU Corporate Collection. In addition to being an experienced mid-career artist, Kirkpatrick joined The Northwest Academy, in 2004, to teach photography at the high school level. Kirkpatrick is currently represented by the G. Gibson Gallery in Seattle, Washington.

The works selected on view at Venti’s Café are a combination of images from several bodies of work made over the last fifteen years.  All photographs are archivally processed and framed. If you have any questions or comments, or are interested in a purchase, please contact me at www.heidikirkpatrick.com