Mary Doretta Heebner (born April 19, 1951) is an American artist and author.

Early life and education

Heebner was born on April 19, 1951, in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

, to Claire Lucille Menei and Walter Schussler Heebner. Her father, Walter, was a professional musician, composer, and songwriter, then as an executive at

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

and

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. Mary Heebner attended Providence High School during which she was a part-time studio assistant to

Corita Kent Corita Kent (November 20, 1918 – September 18, 1986), born Frances Elizabeth Kent and also known as Sister Mary Corita Kent, was an American artist, designer and educator, and former religious sister. Key themes in her work included Christian ...

at Immaculate Heart High School. Heebner credits Kent as an influence in her career and Heebner would also make occasional contact with

Daniel Berrigan Daniel Joseph Berrigan (May 9, 1921 – April 30, 2016) was an American Jesuit priest, anti-war activist, Christian pacifist, playwright, poet, and author. Berrigan's protests against the Vietnam War earned him both scorn and admiratio ...

while at Immaculate Heart. She attended the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

College of Creative Studies The College of Creative Studies (CCS) is the smallest of the three Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges at the University of California, Santa Barbara, unique within the University of California system in terms of structure and phi ...

and graduated with a B.A. in 1973. She also received her M.F.A. from UC Santa Barbara in 1977, working with mentor William Dole.

Career

Heebner's work has been in both private and public collections including:

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...

, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

, the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

, and

Santa Barbara Museum of Art The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) is an art museum located in downtown Santa Barbara, California. Founded in 1941, it is home to both permanent and special collections, the former of which includes Asian art, Asian, Visual arts of the United ...

. She founded Simplemente Maria Press in 1995, which produces limited edition

artist's book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that engage with and transform the form of a book. Some are mass-produced with multiple editions, some are published in small editions, while others are produced as one-of-a-kind o ...

s that combine her paintings and writing. Heebner has collaborated with writers for several artists books including a book based on Hamlet by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

Sienna CraigMichael HannonStephen Kessler
and

Clayton Eshleman Clayton Eshleman (June 1, 1935 – January 29 or 30, 2021) was an American poet, translator and editor, noted in particular for his translations of César Vallejo and his studies of cave painting and the Paleolithic imagination. Eshleman's work ha ...

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

published trade editions of two of Heebner's artist's books that paired her paintings with the poems of Pablo Neruda, which featured translations by Scottish writer

Alastair Reid Alastair Reid may refer to: * Alastair Reid (poet) (1926–2014), Scottish poet and scholar of South American literature * Alastair Reid (director) Alastair Reid (21 July 1939 – 17 August 2011) was a Scottish television and film director, ...

, printed in honor of the poet's 100th birthday. The first book, ''On the Blue Shore of Silence'', was followed in 2008 by a companion volume, ''Intimacies''. Heebner has an abiding interest in antiquity. In 1995 she wrote and illustrated a monograph, ''Old Marks, New Marks'', with an essay by Carolyn Radlo, linking her practice to ancient mark making. In 1997, the French minister of culture invited her to visit the

Lascaux Lascaux ( , ; , "Lascaux Cave") is a network of caves near the village of Montignac, Dordogne, Montignac, in the Departments of France, department of Dordogne in southwestern France. Over 600 Parietal art, parietal cave painting, wall paintin ...

cave, which has been closed to the public since 1963. This inspired a series of paintings and an artist's book, ''Scratching the Surface: a visit to Lascaux and Rouffignac'', which prompted an invitation to revisit Lascaux. A visit to

Angkor Angkor ( , 'capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura (; ),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-English Dictionary''. Bureau of Special Research in Modern Languages. The Catholic Uni ...

and

Ayutthaya Ayutthaya, Ayudhya, or Ayuthia may refer to: * Ayutthaya Kingdom, a Thai kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767 ** Ayutthaya Historical Park, the ruins of the old capital city of the Ayutthaya Kingdom * Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province (locall ...

led to large installation pieces ("Bodhisattvas at Ayutthaya" and "Ancient Presences" and three artist books (''Full Lotus'', ''Bayon: Sketches from Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom'', and ''Silent Faces/Angkor'') and the series Geography of A Face: Khymer. Repeated visits to Patagonia in Chile resulted in a book, a series of paintings, and an artist book ''Unearthed.''Charles Donelan (April 5, 2011
"Mary Heebner and Dug Uyesaka"
''Santa Barbara Independent''. Retrieved 2013-11-24. ''Intimacy: Drawing with Light, Drawn from Stone'', an exploration of the drawing process using watermarks, original text and images based on Classical Roman sculptures. ''Cassandra'' is a hand painted accordion fold book referencing Greek myth, and poetry by Stephen Kessler. ''Arctic Trilogy'', original text and images based on expeditions to the Arctic in 2017 and 2024. Other publications include: Bridging Image and Word: 25 Years of Artists Books, 1995-2020. The Venus Paintings (Edward Cella Art+Architecture, 2013). Patagonia: La Ultima Esperanza, (Tixcacalulpul Press, 2011) by Heebner and Macduff Everton. Intimacies/Intimismos: Poems of Love by Pablo Neruda, translated by

(Harper Collins/Rayo, 2008). On the Blue Shore of Silence: Poems of the Sea by Pablo Neruda, translated by

, commentary by

Antonio Skármeta Esteban Antonio Skármeta Vranicic (November 7, 1940 – October 15, 2024) was a Chilean writer, screenwriter, and director. His novel '' Ardiente paciencia'' was the basis for the film ''Il Postino''. In Chile, he was popularly known for hostin ...

(Harper Collins/Rayo, 2004). The Western Horizon, Heebner/Everton (Abrams, 2000). Heebner's interest in Classical sculpture influenced a series of large paintings including the Venus Paintings, exhibited in 2013, of which Dr. Bruce Robertson has written, "Heebner had miraculously rescued these sculptures from the museums she has seen them in and returned them to the world they came from, a world of change, accident, thick encrustations and vaporous atmosphere."

Personal life

Heebner resides in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

, with photographer and husband

Macduff Everton Macduff Everton (born August 13, 1947) is an American photographer, known for his work with the Maya primarily on the Yucatán Peninsula. Early life and education Macduff Everton was born on August 13, 1947, in Pearl River, New York, to missiona ...

, whom she married in 1989 and shares a stepson. She had previously married Steven E. Craig on March 11, 1972. Craig, her first husband, Heebner met while in high school working together at

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and Amusement park, theme park located in Universal City, California, near Hollywood, Los Angeles. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. Its official marketin ...

. They were married for 13 years and share a daughter.

References

External links

*
UC Santa Barbara Department of Art biography

simplemente maria press website

Video Interview with Mary Heebner

Video Interview with Mary Heebner & Macduff Everton

Video Interview Mary Heebner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heebner, Mary 1951 births Living people American book artists Writers from Santa Barbara, California Artists from Santa Barbara, California University of California, Santa Barbara alumni American women book artists Painters from California 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters 20th-century American women painters 21st-century American women painters