HEIDI R. DE CONTRERAS

Heidi considered herself an artist at age four and a poet at eight. She is a self-taught multi-media artist with an innovative streak; and, a children’s writer with a passion for teaching and nurturing her students’ “artist within.” Heidi constructs unique rice paper collages, and fascinating glass collage pendants, and her whimsical one-of-a-kind stained glass beaded "Angels With Attitude" ©. Her vibrant oil paintings range from impression to expressionism, bordering abstract. Before developing her passion for mixed media collage and oil painting, Heidi worked in watercolors, pastels, drawing in pen & ink, Prismacolors, and pencil portraiture. She also designs one-of-a-kind handbags, beaded scarves and stone jewelry. Heidi discovered that each medium she works in feeds inspiration into the others.

As a storyteller, Heidi creates art through use of metaphor, texture, depth, light and vibrant color. At times the poem inspires the painting, or it is the painting that spawns the written story. Her journey into collage began when she realized a permanent error on a watercolor/pen & ink drawing in her model’s face. As a mother of seven, she could not fathom trashing the art, so she cut it up and glued the pieces onto a larger sheet of watercolor paper. The rest is history, as she transformed the rejected artwork into a striking mixed media collage.

Heidi, a dedicated teacher with over twenty-five years of teaching experience, has seen many of her students win local, national and international art contests. In order to keep her teaching illustrations organized, Heidi created The Big Fat Idea Book, © a youth art curriculum. She teaches at Heidi Contreras school of art at South Minster Presbyterian church on Brookside in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Water Street Art Gallery in Sapulpa, and legacy home school co-op at believer's church in Tulsa.

Appointed honorary judge and speaker for the grand opening of the 1st International Children’s Art Forum of Kaliningrad, Russia, Heidi spoke on the televised, “Children: The Hope of the Future” in the presence of delegations from France, Germany, Poland and Russia. Heidi’s art has been in Tulsa Ballet’s juried “Art of the Dance” exhibit, Tulsa Artists Coalition juried “Anthology” exhibit, the Water Street Art Gallery, Sapulpa, Oklahoma, Bluestem Art Gallery, Kansas, Southminster Presbyterian Church, Tulsa, and in the Kaliningrad Art Gallery, Russia, as well as numerous private collections.

Heidi, a life-long student, considers her artist and writer friends, life in general, and the local library, her mentors.