Heideman makes large, hand-embroidered oils on stretched canvas, and hand-
embroidered watercolor collages on paper. These biomorphic “mash-up” images are
inspired by a kind of scrambled nature. Her love of the natural world and interest in
science have inspired this body of "hybrid” stitched works. The entities she conjures live
outside nature’s taxonomies. But these intermixed scenarios represent only one sort of
hybridity in the work.  Another is the optical hybridity that results from stitching through
thick oil paint or into watercolor collages. With the varied weights of yarns and threads a
new tactile topography emerges. “Interologies” is a neologism she coined for the title of
this exhibition.

As Heideman says in her artist’s statement, “We live in many worlds: inside/outside;
plant/animal; natural/supernatural. In my work I’m drawn to the borders between these
realms, where mobile entities fly, hurl, creep, or ride geyser-like spouts; where filmy or
fluid substances penetrate thick solid planes; where auras sprout and retract. I think of
the abstract hybrids that result as “in-betweens,” entities that live in the lines separating
taxonomy, realm, and condition…”

Heideman is a Smith College Professor Emerita who taught painting and drawing within
Smith’s Art Department for thirty-six years. During that time, she maintained her studio
practice in Boston; she continues to work and live in Boston since retiring. She has
works in the following permanent collections: Smith College Museum (several pieces);
Danforth Museum of Art at Framingham State University; Rose Art Museum of Brandeis
University; Boston College’s McMullen Museum of Art; DeCordova Museum and
Sculpture Park; Boston Public Library Collection of Prints and Drawings (multiple
pieces); and The William and Uytendal Collection of Works by Women Artists at Bryn
Mawr College. Her works are also represented in numerous corporate collections. She
has shown up and down the East Coast and New York City in commercial galleries,
non-profit galleries, and museums.