Sally Heller: Art With an Eco Conscious Edge

All installation artwork by Sally Heller

Sally Heller (New Orleans) is an installation artist who has exhibited throughout the country and has been interviewed by such notable publications as News Week and Louisiana Life.

Describe your installation art. (What materials are used? What is the subject matter? etc.)
I create artificial landscapes out of what I term "human detritus"--low end consumer goods such as wire, plastic, felt, --the bric a brac we discard but use in an often glutinous capacity. I start out building trees and connect them with webbing that I see as molecular energy-- structural devices that can trap the detritus but also spread it like a virus. Despite this sounding pessimistic, the pieces are cheerful, humorous and upbeat in their color and posture.

How long have you been a working artist?
Since I received an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1980

What led to your feature article in Louisiana Life? John Kemp had seen my installation at Gallery g in New Orleans and thought it would be an apt article for the green issue. He also reviewed the show for Art News Magazine.

The article seems to allude to the "green" message in your art. Did you intend to make an eco-conscious statement with your art? If so, why?
I think the work addresses the eco issue naturally because of my use of manufactured goods to create an artificial nature. The amount of plastic and other manmade materials alludes to the consumer society in which we live.

Have you gotten other press recently? List.

-- Newsweek this summer about culture in New Orleans post Katrina

--Art Papers-- a review this past spring

-- various Ohio papers/ blogs in Feb/April after doing a show there

How did you end up getting the opportunity to design installations for Bergdorf Goodman in NYC?

I have a friend who is in charge of the window designs there and she has been keeping up with my installations and thought it would be a good window. They sometimes ask artists to design their window interiors. She asked if I could do it during Fashion Week last year, but I had other obligations.

Any other big plans on the horizon?
I'm currently working on a large sculpture to concur with Prospect 1 that will be placed outside the Convention Center. I have an installation in Chicago in a few weeks and a show in Atlanta in May.