1999 Satisfying the Soul: An Interview with Michael Newberry
Hefferlin Section in Evolution Through Art
Two Chapters to Go in My Book: Evolution Through Art
My Collection of Students’ Works
Pushing the Composition Envelope, Melissa Hefferlin Still Lifes
It is interesting to contrast Hefferlin with Picasso (he is one of my favorite artists). He created some of the best compositions of all time, but he frequently distorted the subjects – like the woman's face, body, and other objects – to make very clever compositional arrangements. But in distorting reality so much he threw the baby out with the bathwater. He was visually saying that reality is a chaos of distorted perspectives that are not true to real life. What is exceptional about Melissa is her ability to tweak these pattern motifs while keeping a realistic perspective, a feat of integration that Picasso doesn't match up to.
France! April-May 2019
People say paintings are like the artist’s children, but that is hyperbole. Perhaps a better analogy is that an artist is like the head of a dog shelter and the pups are under his care until he finds loving homes for them.
Michael Newberry 