"Ellen Heck does a brilliant job of channeling the Impressionist-era talents of Mary Cassatt by applying her sharp observations to modern women caught in moments of reverie -- adjusting a shoe before a hallway mirror, gazing at art, typing on a laptop. Like Cassatt, Heck has an extraordinary ability to render nuances of posture and gesture -- the slump of a shoulder, cock of a head, stretch of a neck, twist of an arm. Her delicate, multilayered colors echo Cassatt's pale Japanese-style hues but in a thoroughly modern manner." - Mary Abbe, Star Tribune

The Plus a Century portfolio, shown for the first time in its entirety at Wally Workman, is a series of drypoints and color etchings depicting women and children from this century, but inspired by the work Mary Cassatt in the last.  The prints focus on line quality and pattern to suggest the emotional states of the figures and their relationships to others and their environments.  Overall, the controlled use of color and internal focus of the poses presents a quiet side of contemporary life while suggesting the presence of rich inner narratives.

Ellen Heck currently works as a printmaker and designer in California's Bay Area, but grew up in Austin and graduated from the first class of St. Andrew's Upper School.  This is her second solo show of a complete thematic body of work since her graduation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008.

web site: www.ellenheck.com