Hello lovely High Line patron! I’m Heather, I made the paintings you find yourself surrounded by. Well not “surrounded,” that sounds ominous. How about “lovingly encircled by”? No, that sounds like they’re about to start handing out pamphlets for their spiritual movement that definitely actually a cult. Well, anyway, I made these paintings, and I’m delighted that you were willing to hold your phone up to a QR code and find your way here, to these words I wrote. Hi!

So what would you like to know?

The number one question I get asked these days:

Why no nose?

Look, I can paint noses; I actually like painting noses. Noses are fun! But when I decided to stop painting realism and let my paintings get a bit weirder, the noses just sort of vanished. And it felt right to leave them out. What was left was this expression that was simultaneously ridiculous and panicked. I like that they look both silly and breathlessly anxious—expressing something quite serious (themes of mental illness and the inherent struggles of modern life), and something quite unserious (goofery!). It works because that’s exactly me. I like to get deep and have big conceptual meanings behind my paintings, but I also like for them to be quite silly, because I’m quite silly.

Where do I make this art?

About an eight minute walk from where you’re sitting right now, I have a studio at nvrlnd Arts Foundation, in Ramsay.

About me?

I have been making art and other things in Calgary for… oh gosh. A while!

If I want to sound impressive I can say that I'm an award winning artist who has made work for the Globe and Mail, Netflix, Virgin, Simon and Schuster, and the CBC. I've sold art to over 50 countries around the world, and I was named to our local Calgary top 40 under 40 by Avenue Magazine.

If I want to sound unimpressive I can say that I walk into a lot of walls and talk to my cat in a really embarrassing voice.

Besides all these paintings I also accidentally became an astrologer without knowing anything about astrology (careful! It could happen to anyone!) on my Instagram page Horror Scoops, and have a book on astrology coming out in the spring of 2024 with Chronicle Books. It's literal nonsense, but for some reason they paid me to write it. Maybe it’s already out? How does time work?

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to get to know your friendly neighbourhood artist!

If there's anything else you want to know about me or the things I make by smooshing paint around, email hb (at) heatherbuchanan (dot) ca, or fill out my contact form.

Note: Buying this listing gets you nothing. Don't do it!!!!

(though if you do I might send you random art garbage, who knows???)