Interview with the fabulous Jeffery Heft of HeftArt

I am just starting to post interviews with artists on Etsy that I admire. I want to help them get some exposure and focus on their process as artists and sellers. If you read this blog, please send some feedback! I asked questions that I thought readers would be interested in but I am still learning how to do this so help me out. I came to Etsy more as a fine artist so that is my focus...and i want to create a dialogue with other artists so we can feel supported and inspired. This blog is for anyone though, crafts people, artists, art admirers, bored people...etc.
I saw Jeffery Heft's art on etsy and immediately saw a distinctive voice in his pieces...I think you will love his work as well.

1) How long have you been selling on etsy?
I opened my Etsy shop in December of 2006 as an experiment in selling the handmade relief prints that I was beginning to create. At the time I was selling my other types of work (paintings and monotypes) through brick & mortar galleries.

2) Do you have advice for etsy newbies?
Just the basics. Search Etsy for the kind of work you are making. Compare quality and price to see where your work fits in. Etsy is really very mainstream in the types of work that do well. List and renew often to keep your product at the front of the line, so to speak.

3) What are your fave pieces in your shop and why?
Difficult to choose 3 favorites from my shop - the choices would change from day to day. Today I suppose I might pick "Redhead", "Cat Eat Cat World", and "Release." "Redhead" came from an enjoyment of the many woodpeckers I see about the house. I live next to the woods so I see Pileated, Red-bellied, Northern Flicker, Downy, & Hairy woodpeckers. "Cat Eat Cat World" is just an amused comment on a couple of relationships I've witnessed. "Release" came about during the year my mother was fighting lung cancer.

4) What plans do you have for your shop?
My plans for the shop are to keep adding new handmade relief printmaking work. I'm also working on some new collagraphs. I've had requests for low cost reproductions and I'm considering how that might work for me

5) How long have you been creating art?
Since I was a little kid. If you check out the bio page on my website (www.brainplay.net) you'll see a photo of me at 5 yrs old in front of a painting easel.
6) Who are your art heroes?
Too many to list, and the list is varied. Jack Kirby to Hokusai. Rembrandt to de Kooning. Goya to Hanselaar. That's just 2d work - I could go on and on.

7) Where do your ideas come from?
Observation interior and exterior. I'm very interested in narrative so the many things I read can become entangled in the imagery also.

8)What do you do when you have a creative block?
I've never really had a problem with creative block.

9) What other interests do you have that feed into your art?
Pretty much anything that interests me can end up influencing my artwork. My artwork many times functions as a way to process and understand my life experiences.


Jeffrey Heft
www.brainplay.net
www.heftart.etsy.com