Mary Heilmann Analysis

Harley Henley
Eric Claunch
ARTA 1030
March 4, 2015

Mary Heilmann Mary Heilmann stated, “I look at paintings and try to sort them out—mine and other people’s—I get a feeling from a painting and then I try to figure out how it made me feel that way” (BOMB). The American artist Mary Heilman was born in San Francisco, California during 1940. She grew up near the ocean and beach. Mary loved her beach-theme lifestyle while growing up. Mary Heilmann attended University of California, Santa Barba. She received her BA in 1962. A few short years later Mary attended and graduated with her MA in 1967 from University of California, Berkeley. Every piece of art she creates usually has a backstory about what inspired the artwork. She is known for
Mary Heilmann uses line throughout her whole painting. Her use of a perfect straight black line creates the geometric shapes that we see in “Lovejoy”. Many of the geometric shapes that are created with the black line resemble squares, pentagons, rhombuses, and trapezoids. The light brings out the value of the colors she used in “Lovejoy”. Mary went with bright and vibrant colors in her geometric shapes painting. She used light yellow, yellow, orange, green, pink, light blue, blue, red, and purple. If someone read the colors she used then they wouldn’t believe that the color combination flowed perfectly together. With the use of color and line Mary creates texture with her different brushstrokes. Mary even swirled her brushes around in the paint to create the visible brushstrokes. The use of color and line in this painting creates the geometric shapes which gives the illusion of a three-dimensional painting. Mary Heilmann made the painting seem as if the geometric shapes were protruding from the canvas. The visual element of space plays a part in “Lovejoy”. It’s as if a person were flying over a mountain then he or she could see the peaks and valleys. In this painting the peaks and valleys can be visibly seen. Along with several visual elements, Mary Heilmann’s “Lovejoy” has a few principles of
I absolutely love this painting! It seems so vibrant and fresh with color. There is not a single thing that turns me away from it. This painting makes me feel surprisingly happy and cheerful. I believe due to the pops of very bright different colors it would make anyone smile. In my opinion it reminds me of a beautiful stained class or a Rubik’s cube. I don 't believe I have seen another piece of artwork that resembles "Lovejoy". I love the fact that every piece of art she creates has a