Artist's Biography

Edgar Heap of Birds received his Master of Fine Arts from Tyler School of Art, Temple University (1979); his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Kansas (1976); and has undertaken graduate studies at the Royal College of Art, London, England. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2008. Heap of Birds has exhibited his works at the Museum of Modern Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the National Museum of the American Indian; the Smithsonian Institution; the National Gallery of Canada; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Documenta, Kassal, Germany; Orchard Gallery, Derry, Northern Ireland; University Art Museum, Berkeley, California; Association for Visual Arts Museum, Cape Town, South Africa; Lewallen Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Hong Kong Art Center, China; Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia; Grand Palais, Paris, France; and the Venice Biennale, Italy. He has served as visiting lecturer in various countries, including England, Thailand, South Africa, Spain, Northern Ireland, Sweden, Zimbabwe, Italy, Australia and India. Heap of Birds has taught as Visiting Professor at Yale, Rhode Island School of Design, and Michaelis School of Art, University of Cape Town, South Africa. At the University of Oklahoma since 1988, Professor Heap of Birds teaches in Native American Studies. His seminars explore issues of the contemporary artist on local, national, and international level. He has received grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Lila Wallace Foundation, Bonfil Stanton Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trust, and the Andy Warhol Foundation. Heap of Birds’ artwork was chosen by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian as their entry towards the competition for the United States Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale. He represented the Smithsonian with a major collateral public art project and blown glass works in Venice, June 2007 titled: “Most Serene Republics”.

Curator's Biography

Janet Levy is a curator and director of See Line Gallery. See Line Gallery is a contemporary exhibition space founded April 2006 by Janet Levy in Santa Monica. In 2009, See Line Gallery relocated to the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. With a focus on an exceptional curatorial program, See Line Gallery is dedicated to showing the works of talented contemporary artists with an emphasis on sculpture, collage, mixed media, and installations.