Bio

In the early 1990s, rock n’ roll worked its dark magic to influence a young painter in Florida by the name of Heidi Calvert to take a step back from the easel and embrace a medium more accessible to capturing the essence of the moment at hand: photography. While she had long seen painting as the serious pursuit of her artistic expression, she found that taking pictures of bands performing live on stage was a natural extension of the sensibilities she had honed as a painter. While it took a while for her to connect what she saw as a hobby to a potential career in the arts, she opened her eyes to the possibility of sharing her unique visions with the world on a full-time basis. Instead of resigning herself to a future dictated by the agendas of others, Heidi decided that she would forge her own path while enjoying herself along the way. Fueling this spark of ambition was Heidi’s passionate, obsessive nature. Already possessing the creative ingredients necessary to succeed as an artist, enhancing her technical prowess with the equipment she’d need for her chosen vocation was the first logical step forward. Further education would begin at a local community college in 1993, earn her a Chairman’s Merit Scholarship for photography, and take her all the way to the School of Visual Arts in her dream location, New York City, in 1998. Though unforeseen hard times in the big city worked to discourage Heidi from her enthusiasm, she refused to be so easily daunted. Heidi knew her therapy would be found through her art, and a resulting photo shoot produced erotic, stunning images of a “bluegirl” thanks to the use of infrared film. Overcoming this rough patch in her life inspired her to start bluegirl Productions with in 2000, and the momentum continues. Her work has matured through stages focused on music, fashion, and erotica into a darker style that incorporates its evolution into a form of its own. Now, based primarily in Los Angeles (with bi-coastal tendencies exhibiting themselves from time to time when she’s able to get back to New York), Heidi spent the past eight months working out of New York City, and the previous two years in Hollywood curating shows and events in a delightful gem of an art studio and gallery in the heart of Hollywood she magically converted from its ancient, cockroach-infested sweatshop past life. Dubbed Bluespace, the multipurpose half-storefront, half-bunker celebrated its rebirth with its first show, “Alive!”, in August, 2004, and has been an exciting nexus of the bizarre and extreme (even in famously jaded Hollywood) up until it’s close in early 2006. The revered ghost of Andy Warhol, it is hoped, smiles on Heidi’s continuation of the art-party freak menagerie tradition. So there you have it. bluegirl Heidi Calvert, photographer and curator of all that’s carefree and bizarre to be found on both coasts and in-between, continues to carve out a bright future for herself in the International Art Scene. Keep an eye on this one.

 

Photo by Art Weeks