Shelter

About Shelter

For American artist Heather Allen Hietala, the hand-built clay vessels she’s created symbolize the mystery of life’s journey. Rendered in a gorgeous earthy palette, this piece features a larger vessel with a smaller one lashed to its interior. Fragments of green glass recycled from wine bottles and pickle jars line the bottom of the boat. Inscriptions-hand written using a fine bamboo reed speak to the artist’s thoughts—‘go with the flow, go with the wind…remember.’ This series was created as an homage to Hietala’s parents.

“As a kid I used to help my father sail by plotting our course on charts. But I recognize that life is unpredictable…it can’t be mapped. The inscriptions on my work offer advice for wherever you’re going but the journey itself still can’t be predicted.” Heather Allen Hietala

She studied painting and sculpture at the University of New Hampshire and textiles at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Hietala furthered her studies at Penland School of Crafts, Haystack, and Arrowmont in the US. Her work has been shown in Canada, the US, France and Singapore, and is held in collections worldwide. She has also taught and lectured in the US, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Nepal.