It all started when…

…despite being an abstract landscape and contemporary abstract painter, I can be very silly. I grew up in New Jersey obsessively building with Lego and Erector sets, but Tinker Toys were too boring for me. I moved onto old school ink perspectives in architecture school. This, while I further tortured myself learning line drawing class with nudes and subjects my art teacher requested. She asked if I’d be interested in an architecture school program in Manhattan for her especially talented students. I did, and then got my master’s degree in Denver. I lived there three decades. My aerospace engineer husband brought us to Seattle in 2018.

You wouldn’t know my entire life time I’ve been learning not to doubt myself. As I sat next to a painting during a brunch out at Cafe Terra Cotta in Littleton, Colorado, one day in 2013, I said, ” I can do that ! ” I took an acrylic painting course, also continued teaching myself, and within a few months, I was asked if “Jesen Shizzle” was for sale. This began web sales for me while I continued raising my family, then directly in person from artist to collector, and it’s done nothing but grow since. This is my new season of life, as once was the architecture license I gifted myself. I’m not a “should have, could have, would have” kind of person. I always make it happen come… high water.

Here I am. I’ve exhibited in solo and group exhibits throughout Colorado and Washington state. My work is found with private clients throughout the United States, U.K., Germany and New Zealand. I keep my Studio 211. Floor 3, on 1120 Pacific Avenue in Tacoma. I graduated with a B. of Architectural Studies and a Minor in Fine Arts from Skidmore College in conjunction with The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York City. After my Masters of Architecture Degree from U. of Colorado in Denver, I practiced architecture in high end residential, medical and retail projects to $12M for about 25 years.

"Come and look closer. Want to feel the texture? To see what clash of colors made you feel exuberant, energized, or focused? As tranquil as air, or as encumbered as a bubble in riptide? From a different distance, a different angle? If any brushstroke or scrape of the palette knife awakens the emotional part of your mind; the place where you visualize no tangible object you’ve ever known, that is enough".

Events

PERMANENT ROTATING SOLO EXHIBIT
WorkSphere | Tacoma
1120 Pacific Ave., Floors One + Two, Tacoma WA 98402
Current

ARTS AT THE ARMORY | TACOMA 2021
1001 South Yakima Tacoma, WA 98405
October 16-17, 2021

STAR BAZAAR | TACOMA 2021
Plaza North Roof |923 Commerce Street, Tacoma, WA 98402
August 20, 2021

MAPLE VALLEY ARTS FEST | Salon Show + Juried Show
Maple Valley Creative Arts Council | Maple Valley WA
Virtual
June 11-13, 2021

ART of the QUARANTINE | Part 2
Green River College | Auburn
Virtual
March 20 - May 1, 2021

SPARK | Work by Heather W. Ernst
WorkSphere | Tacoma
1120 Pacific Ave., Floor One, Tacoma WA
November 14 - December 15, 2020

ARTIST IN FOCUS | TACOMA ARTS MONTH
Work by Heather W. Ernst | Virtually
1120 Pacific Ave., Floor One, Tacoma WA
October 20 - 31, 2020

TACOMA STUDIO TOUR
Spaceworks 1120 Downtown
1120 Pacific Ave., Floor Two, Tacoma WA
October 12-13, 2019

PRECISION and VERVE | Heather W. Ernst + Hoyt Crace
Spaceworks 1120 Downtown
1120 Pacific Ave., Tacoma WA 98402
August 15, 2019

ENERGY and ABSTRACTION | Paintings of Heather W. Ernst
Covington Town Hall Gallery
16720 SE 271st St, Covington, WA 98042
June 3 - June 26, 2019

SPIRIT | Heather W. Ernst
Mary Boze Gallery | Tahoma Universalist Church
1115 S 56th St, Tacoma, WA 98408
March 3 - April 30, 2019

HOTEL MURANO | Art + Wine Night
Tacoma Art Walk 3rd Thursday
1320 Broadway, Tacoma, WA 98402
January 17, 2019

GALA FANTASTIQUE! | Symphony Tacoma Auction
Museum of Glass | 1801 Dock Street, Tacoma WA 98402
November 16, 2018

LAST STANZA | Heather W. Ernst
The Infinite Monkey Theorem
3200 Larimer Street | RiNo Art District Denver USA
May 1 – 31, 2018

GRANDE AUTUMN SHIZZLE | Heather W. Ernst
West + Main | 2632 Blake Street
RiNo Art District Denver USA
April 4 – 30, 2018

DENVER FIRST FRIDAY ARTS
Artwork Network | 878 Santa Fe Drive Art District
Denver | Colorado | USA
Between 100-200 people visit my Studio One on the First Friday of every month. I'd love to see you there!
The First Friday of Every Month
Nov. 2017 - May 2018

PERMANENT SOLO ROTATING EXHIBIT
Riggs-Abney Law | Denver USA
April 27, 2015 - Dec. 31, 2019

SOUND AND COLOR | Works Inspired by Kandisky
Cottonwood Center for the Arts
Colorado Springs | Colorado | USA
Neurological synesthesia evoking color and visual rhythms triggered by music.
October 6, 2017 – October 31st, 2017

Awards

1987 Robert K. Fuller Award | Academic Excellence for M. Arch. Student at U. of Colorado

1987 A.I.A. Colorado Grant | Scholarly Pursuit in the Field of Architecture

Education