Brainstorms, Terrains and Mental Mapping

Heidi Whitman’s installations, constructions, paintings, and drawings are invented terrains or mental maps. Her installation, ‘New World’, was included in Wayfinding: Contemporary Artists, Critical Dialogues, and the Sidney R. Knafel Map Collection at the Addison Gallery of American Art in 2020-21. She has exhibited internationally, most recently in ‘The Art of Mapping’ at TAG Fine Arts in London.

My drawings, paintings, and paper constructions are cartographies of the subconscious that refer to time and memory as uncharted territory. I’m interested in states of mind, how experience is translated into thought, and how dreams jumble reality.

For the “Conscious” issue, I’m including work done over two decades from my Brainstorm, Brain Terrain, and Mental Map series. Drawing is the medium with the most direct links between mind, eye, hand, and subject perceived. My paintings and paper constructions always begin with drawing.

“Brainstorm (7)”, 2000, ink, 16.5” x 20”, gouache, and collage on paper

“Brainstorm (21)”, 2000, 25.5” x 38.5”, ink, charcoal, and gouache on paper

“Brainstorm (31)”, 2001, 25.5” x 38.5”, ink, charcoal, and gouache on paper

“Brain Terrain (211), 2006, 17” x 20.5”, ink and gouache on paper

“Wired (Brain Terrain 154)”, 2005, 45” x 33.5”, acrylic, Flashe, and ink on panel

“Thinking (Brain Terrain 226)”, 2007, 30.5”x 41.5”, acrylic, Flashe, and ink on panel

“Invisible Cities (Brain Terrain 282)”, 2009, 23” x 29” x 2”, ink, gouache, acrylic, paper, and cast shadows, Collection of Richard and Penny Garver

“Invisible Cities (Brain Terrain 307)”, 2010, 24” x 32” x 2”, ink, gouache, acrylic, paper, and cast shadows, Collection of Julian and Susan Houston

“Mappamundi (6)”, 2018, 28” x 28”, ink, gouache, acrylic, paper, and cast shadows

“Metropolis (1)”, 2020, 31” x 51” x 1.5”, ink, gouache, acrylic, paper, and cast shadows

“Mental Map (10)”, 2015, 17” x 20.5”, ink and gouache on cut paper

“Mental Map (35)”, 2016, 16” x 24”, ink and gouache on cut paper

“Mental Map (36)”, 2016, 16” x 24”, ink and gouache on cut paper

“Mental Map (56)”, 2018, 16.5” x 20.5”, ink and gouache on cut paper

“Mental Map (67)”, 2018, 28” x 38.5”, ink and gouache on cut paper

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www.heidiwhitman.com

All images copyright and courtesy of Heidi Whitman

Art, Brain, Creativity, Drawing, Science

About Heidi Whitman

Heidi Whitman’s installations, constructions, paintings, and drawings are invented terrains or mental maps. Whitman’s installation, “New World”, was included in Wayfinding: Contemporary Artists, Critical Dialogues, and the Sidney R. Knafel Map Collection at the Addison Gallery of American Art in 2020-21. Other recent exhibitions include Charting the World: Subjective Mapping at Suffolk University, Crossing Boundaries: Art// Maps at the Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, Heidi Whitman: Mental Map at Carroll and Sons Gallery in Boston, and The Map as Art at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City. Earlier exhibitions include shows at the Christopher Henry Gallery in New York, Scope Miami, Pierogi Gallery, the Montserrat College of Art, Wheaton College, the Boston Drawing Project, Clark University, the McMullen Museum of Art, the Southeastern Louisiana Contemporary Art Gallery, and Harvard College. Whitman has exhibited internationally, most recently in The Art of Mapping at TAG Fine Arts in London. Whitman’s work was featured in Katharine Harmon’s book The Map as Art, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009. In 2007 Whitman completed a commission for the City of Cambridge (Jill Brown-Rhone Park). Her collections include the Addison Gallery of American Art, the McMullen Museum of Art, Tufts University, the Boston Public Library, IBM, Simmons College, Bank of America, Boston University, the Federal Reserve, JPMorgan Chase, and Fidelity Investments. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Whitman is a 2021 recipient of the Mass Cultural Council fellowship in Sculpture/Installation/New Genres. She is also a recipient of the Clarissa Bartlett Traveling Scholarship awarded by the Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts. She was a faculty member at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University from 1983 to 2019. View all posts with Heidi Whitman →

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