Eva Heller

b. 1946, Lodz, Poland

“Sunshine, grass of the prairies, summer heat. . . . Every winter I was waiting for a Chinook and the first signs of spring.”

Eva Heller’s description of the inspiration for Heat points to her interest in translating impressions of nature into magnificent abstracted Gobelin tapestries. Heller received her training at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Lodz, Poland where guest lecturers included Janina Tworek-Pierzgalska, Anna Sledziewska, and the influential Magdalena Abakanowicz. Produced two years after arriving in Canada, Heat proved challenging for Heller, who lacked a large studio space in her Lethbridge home. Instead, she wove it on a simple frame in a small bedroom and dyed the wool in a large pot in her kitchen.