Barbara Arnold Heitzman
Barbara is a Signature member of the Iowa Pastel Society, a co-founder of the Plein Air Painters of Dubuque (PPODS), and a member of Iowa Artists. She has received numerous awards in the Bluff Strokes Paint Out, Iowa Pastel Society, Iowa Artists State and Regional competitions, and Catiri’s “Fresh Paint. Her work has been exhibited in Ames, Amana, Cedar Falls, Dubuque, Fairfield, Marion, Maquoketa, Waterloo, Iowa, and Galena, Illinois.
Barbara is a retired instructor from the University of Northern Iowa and Malcolm Price Laboratory School where she taught Expressive Arts and elementary creative drama. She has a MAE from UNI and a BFA from the University of Michigan.
“For years I worked mainly in the studio, using reference photos I had taken for ideas. But, since I moved to Dubuque, I also paint plein air, which is painting directly from nature on location. My challenge with plein air is to capture the essence of what I observe, but also go beyond realistic local color and use imaginative color juxtapositions and texture. Most of my work has been in pastels, but I also experiment in oil, cold wax, and acrylic.”
Barbara is a retired instructor from the University of Northern Iowa and Malcolm Price Laboratory School where she taught Expressive Arts and elementary creative drama. She has a MAE from UNI and a BFA from the University of Michigan.
“For years I worked mainly in the studio, using reference photos I had taken for ideas. But, since I moved to Dubuque, I also paint plein air, which is painting directly from nature on location. My challenge with plein air is to capture the essence of what I observe, but also go beyond realistic local color and use imaginative color juxtapositions and texture. Most of my work has been in pastels, but I also experiment in oil, cold wax, and acrylic.”
