Andrea Hegeman

When I started working in clay in 1990, I immediately felt connected to this material and all its endless possibilities. There's something deeply satisfying about having my hands in clay, with its tactile, pliable, and elemental quality. I'm captivated by primary forms and the natural world surrounding us, observing that within Nature there are rhythms and patterns of repetition, there's a natural recurrence, and what's inside is outside, "as above so below"; it’s as if everything is part of a grand design. The process of evolution and cycles of Nature are a constant source of inspiration for me, never losing their mystery or emotion. In my clay practice, I can hand build these forms, usually starting with a drawing, staying open to where my hands, the form, and the material will take me. It's like a dance between ideas, expression, and working in this medium which has its own inherent nature, always challenging and surprising.

I was born in Santiago, Chile, and came to this country with my family at a young age. I consider myself a hybrid having absorbed both cultures and languages simultaneously and living most of my life going back and forth between Chile and different locations in the U.S. - Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Santa Fe. I can safely say that since childhood my one constant in life has been art. I studied drawing, painting, and sculpture at Universidad de Chile for 3 years until political turmoil made it difficult to continue, and then we relocated to California, where I worked as a textile designer for more than a decade. I've been fortunate to have traveled extensively and have had the opportunity to immerse myself in different cultures and study various artistic disciplines. However, it’s been through my clay practice that I found my primary form of expression. These frequent relocations have deeply influenced my thinking and my work. The internal struggle between stability and change, beginnings and endings has led me on a spiritual quest looking for answers and focusing on nature with its ebb and flow, its cycles, and its permanent state of change.

2-D, 3-D, Ceramics, Painting (all materials)