About

Heather Delzell is a representational painter who creates figures in a naturalistic palette, re-imagining and celebrating narratives of the archetypical everyman and everywoman. She predominantly paints females, and her subject matter is “transcendence.”

Delzell’s painted images are a modern take on the Baroque, depicting the human figure as flawed, messy... and very real. She paints people who have been through difficult times and come out the other side to help others. “I conceive of the protagonist as a friend, and this is their story." The protagonist ventures forth from the world of the ordinary into a region of supernatural wonder, where they encounter fabulous forces. Set in the landscape, they are tried, changed, and transformed. Natural setting, costume, and objects tell the narrative. Physical gestures suggest conflict and internal struggles. Flora and fauna, garments and light in the sky, are nods to a dispute resolved.

Gender is an essential aspect of Delzell’s work. "I think of my work as a series of self-portraits. I am drawing from my own experience when painting women. My husband and two sons are familiar to me, and play the role of the male archetypes."