Biography
"As our world embraces this new millennium, I feel that it is important to offer conduits to grander vision...to reconnect the public with their ability to take risks and reap rewards of exploration and imagination, to dare to envision the world as a global community." Hera speaking about her work on the Orbitor.
Hera is among the first public artists to use landscape architecture as a sculptural medium for public commissions and is an innovator in bringing cultural and social concerns to the public eye through environmental public sculpture. Joanna Wissinger, writing in Progressive Architecture magazine, describes the work as having "specific social as well as aesthetic agendas" and "arousing a sense of history". Hera crosses disciplinary boundaries with her environmental sculpture, finding ways to enrich our lives with history and the life of forms.
BORN / EDUCATION
New Orleans, Louisiana, 1940. Southern Methodist University, M. F. A., 1974; University of Dallas, B. A., 1970; also studied at Mount Holyoke College and Schools of the Art Institute of Chicago.
COMMISSIONS
| 2010 |
"Stations of Nature", State University of New York at New Paltz, NY |
| 2009 |
"Shadow Dance", Walkway over the Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY |
| 2008 |
"Dream House", Hera's Farm, Woodstock, NY |
| 2003 |
"The Orbitor", The Soap Factory, Athens, Greece |
| 1998 |
"Monument to the Woman Culture of Ancient Crete", Heraklion, Crete; Greece |
| 1991 |
Community Based Design Pilot, Philadelphia Art Commission, Philadelphia, PA |
| 1990 |
"Tower as Inland Lighthouse", Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, Tampa, FL |
| 1989 |
"Orbital Connector", Governor Smith Houses, Manhattan, NY |
| 1988 |
"Singing Rock Sitting Place", The Arboretum, Fairmont Park, Philadelphia, PA |
| 1984 |
"Vaulted Arbor", Glenwood Houses, Brooklyn, NY |
| 1982 |
"Niagara- Knossos-Carranza Connector", ARTPARK, Lewiston, NY |
| 1980 |
"Floribunda", Creedmoor, Queens Village, NY |
| |
"Stormflower", University of New Orleans, LA |
| 1979 |
"Snail Shell Maze", Boxford, for the Tri-Town Council, Topsfield, MA |
| 1978 |
"Canopies for First Night", First Night, Inc., Boston, MA |
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SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
| Mount Holyoke College Art Museum |
| Tampa Museum of Art |
| Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, Tampa, FL |
| The Arboretum at Fairmont Park, PA |
| Laumeier Sculpture Park,St. Louis, MO |
| New York City Housing Authority |
| Creedmoor, Queens, NY |
| University of New Orleans, LA |
| New Orleans Museum, LA |
| Tri-Town Council, Boxford, MA |
| Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA |
| Oklahoma Arts Center, Oklahoma City, OK |
| Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX |
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SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
| 1986 |
"Spirit House", Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn, NY |
| 1981 |
"Dream Feast", Alternative Museum, New York City |
| |
"Family Room", Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans; Nexus Gallery, Philadelphia; Women's Interart Center, NYC (1982). |
| 1979 |
"Butcher Shop", Brooks Jackson Gallery Iolas, NY, NY |
| 1978 |
"Canopies for First Night '78", Boston Common, Procession Designer and leader. |
| 1976 |
"Skin Show", Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH |
| |
"Life Ways", Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston , MA. and the Arts and Science Center, Nashau, NH. |
| 1975 |
"Bound and Hung Ways", Provincetown Fine Arts Center. |
| |
"Air Cocoons", Boston City Hall. |
| |
"Farm Work", Bartol Old Farm, Milton, MA. |
| 1974 |
"Woman Molding", Pollack Galleries, Southern Methodist University Dallas, Texas. |
| |
"Passageways", Fort Worth Museum, Henry Hopkins, Director. |
| 1973 |
"Rites of Passage", collaboration with Anna Halprin, Fort Worth Museum. |
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SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
| 2010 |
ARTPARK 1974-1984. University at Buffalo Art Galleries, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY
|
| 1988 |
"Singing Rock Sitting Place" for "Altered Sites" show, The Arboretum, Fairmont Park, Philadelphia, PA |
| 1986 |
"Diktynna's Grove" for "The Wreath: Interpretations", The Arsenal, Central Park, NYC |
| |
"Orbitor" for "Public Visions/Public Monuments", SOHO 20, NYC |
| 1985 |
"Springing Arbor" for "After Titled Arc", Storefront for Art and Architecture, NYC |
| 1984 |
"Orbitor" for The First New York Art Parade, NYC |
| 1982 |
"Niagara-Knossos-Carranza Connector" for ARTPARK, Lewiston, NY |
| 1981 |
9th Street Survival Show, NYC; Open Studio Show, Palisades Interstate Park, Bear Mountain, NY; |
| |
Art and Ecological Issues, 22 Wooster Street Gallery, NY, NY |
| 1980 |
"Light Lines" for the Annual Avant Garde Festival of New York |
| |
"Floribunda" for the Sculpture Park Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, Queens, NY |
| |
"Stormflower" for Designing with the Elements, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA |
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GRANTS AND AWARDS
| 1995 |
Thanks Be To Grandmother Winifred Foundation for "Monument to the
Woman Culture of Ancient Crete". |
| 1988 |
Borough President of Manhattan, David Dinkins' Unity Day Citation for
"Orbital Connector". |
| 1987 |
Department of Cultural Affairs of New York City for "Orbital Connector". |
| 1982 |
New York State Council on the Arts for "Spirit House"; |
| |
Department of Cultural Affairs of New York City for "Vaulted Arbor"; Committee for the Visual Arts for "Orbitor". |
| 1981 |
America the Beautiful Fund for AIR, Palisades Interstate Park, Bear Mountain, NY; |
| |
Glickenhaus Foundation, Money for Women Fund and Committee for
the Visual Arts for "Family Room". |
| 1980 |
NEA and Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans for "Stormflower"; Committee for the Visual Arts for "Floribunda". |
| 1979 |
Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities for "Snail Shell Maze". |
| 1976 |
Fine Arts Council of Florida for Assistant in NEA/AIR Pilot Project. |
| 1975 |
National Endowment for the Arts, AIR Pilot Project at FCI Tallahassee, FL. |
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
ARTPARK: 1974-1984
Sandra Firmin,
Princeton Architectural Press, NY, NY, 2010.
|
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE GODDESS
Christina Biaggi,
Knowledge, Ideas & Trends, Inc., Manchester, CT, 2000. |
SCULPTURE PARKS & GARDENS OF AMERICA
Jane McCarthy & Laurily Epstein,
Michael Kesend Publishing, Ltd., NY, NY, 1996. |
DETOURS
Panos Peonides,
Constantinos I. Koridis, Athens, Greece, 1995. |
ARTWALKS IN NEW YORK
Marina Harrison & Lucy Rosenfeld,
Michael Kesend Publishing, NY, NY, 1994. |
SCULPTURE CITY: ST. LOUIS
George Mc Cue, David Finn and Amy Binder,
Hudson Hills Press, NY, 1988. |
PLACEMAKERS II
Ronald Fleming and Renata Von Tscharner,
Hastings House, NY,1987. |
OVERLAY
Lucy Lippard,
Pantheon Books, NY, 1983. |
PLACEMAKERS
Ronald Fleming and Renata Von Tscharner,
Hastings House, NY,1981. |
THE TENT BOOK
Hatton, E. M.,
Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA, 1979. |
SCULPTURE: TOOLS, MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
Wilbert Verhelst,
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1973. |
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PUBLISHED IN
THE BELL
Metairie, La., Spring, 1995. |
ODYSSEY
Volume 1 No. 6, Athens, Greece, Summer 1994.
NYC, No. 116, May 1-14, 1993. |
THE MEDITERRANEAN
NYC, Volume VIII, No. 1, Winter-Spring 1993. |
ART IN AMERICA
NYC, August, 1989; August, 1984; November, 1981. |
PROGRESSIVE ARCHITECTURE
Stamford, CT., November, 1985. |
DREAMWORKS
Vol. 4, No. 1, Human Science Press, Inc. NYC, 1984. |
ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
No. 157, Tokyo, Japan, October, 1983. |
WOMEN IN THE WILDERNESS
San Francisco, Ca., 1980. |
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INCLUDED IN
INTERNATIONAL WHO'S WHO OF PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS WOMEN
International Biographical Centre, Cambridge CB2 3QP, England, 1990. |
THE NEW YORK ART REVIEW
Les Krantz Ed, American Reference Inc, Chicago,1987. |
AMERICAN ARTISTS
An illustrated Survey of Leading Contemporary Americans.
The Krantz Co., Chicago, Ill., 1985. |
WE WILL NOT BE DISAPPEARED!
Directory of Art Activism, Cultural
Correspondence, NYC, 1984. |
ARCHIVE OF WOMEN IN ARCHITECTURE
Architectural League of NY. |
THE LIST
A compendium of Artists recommended by the Independent Curators
Incorporated, NYC. |
WHO'S WHO IN AMERICAN ART
R.R. Bowker Co., 1980 on. |
WHO'S WHO IN AMERICAN WOMEN
Marquis , Inc., 1983 on. |
AN ART AND AMENITY PLAN FOR BOSTON'S OLD CITY HALL
The Townscape & Institute Inc, Cambridge, Ma., 1982. |
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Biography